Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Community Budget Conversation

I was pleased to see a good turnout of Madison residents at the Community Budget Conversation held recently at the Central Library.

This year’s conversation was unique, as it added an interactive element. Residents were given broad service areas including public safety, infrastructure/public works, neighborhood & economic development, internal services, and youth programming. They were then asked to determine how they would disperse $1,000 among these service areas by voting on their smart phones. The results were shown to the audience in real time in the form of a bar graph.

The budget conversation was productive and I have a good idea as to where residents would like to see funds go in the 2016 budget.  It will be a challenging year, but it is helpful to get ideas and suggestions from Madison residents as I work with City staff and the Common Council to draft our 2016 spending plan.

Community Budget Conversation

Do you have an interest in providing suggestions into how the City will spend its money in the 2016 budget? On Tuesday, July 14th from 6:00 – 7:30 pm I will host a Community Budget Conversation in room 301 of the Central Library. The finance director will lead off the conversation by providing an overview of Madison's financial climate for 2016. We will be using our cell phones to gather feedback from the audience on how to prioritize spending  across key service areas.

We will follow this exercise with a discussion. I look forward to hearing from you!

Hope to see you all there!

City Budget and the Premium

 On Tuesday, September 17, 2013 the city of Madison held a competitive sale of debt to raise funds for capital projects and equipment.  The winning bid of 2.16%, which will cost about $600,000 less than the highest bid of 2.33%, reflects current market conditions and the city’s Aaa bond rating. 

 In recent years, winning bids included a reoffering premium. When a bid includes a ‘premium’ it means the purchasers of the city’s debt are willing to pay cash upfront in order to receive higher interest payments from the city in future years. 

 The city placed a maximum price on the bonds.  The goal was to obtain a targeted premium amount of $4 million, which was factored into my Executive Capital Budget. Prior to my taking office, the city was using this premium to help fund on-going operating costs .  This violates a sound budgetary principle.  Irregular revenue sources should only be used to fund programs that do not occur year after year.

 It is my goal to use the $4 million in premium to fund capital projects-that will reduce the need for additional borrowing in the future.   Hopefully, despite disagreements on this point in the past two budget years, the city council will agree. In 2011, when I came into office, the city was projected to spend 20% of its operating budget on debt. Prudent decisions, despite some tough budget disagreements with the city council, means that, if the council adopts the recommended capital and operating budgets, only 14% of our 2014 budget will be devoted to paying off debt. 

2013 Community Budget Meetings

 Join Madison Common Council members and me for the 2013 Community Budget meetings at locations throughout the City.  The budget debates continue to be difficult as our needs grow, but our dollars do not keep up.  Your feedback and input is crucial, and these meetings, as well as your on-line participation provide a great opportunity to not only learn how the decisions are made and how taxpayer dollars are spent, but also to have your concerns and comments considered for next year’s budget deliberations.

We are asking for everyone’s ideas and votes as they will help us develop the themes of this year's community budget conversations.  I am pleased that we are also able to get ideas on line and accessible to people who might not be able to make it to any of the meetings.

The community budget conversations will take place this month as City officials and staff work to create a budget that represents and encompass the values of the residents of Madison.  This year, ideas are also being collected through IdeaScale and through the Budget Conversation Events.  I urge you to go on line to utilize this method of learning what others think, and to share your thoughts.

There are four sessions and residents are invited to attend as many as they wish.

Work / Invent & Create

May 9th, 2013 at 7pm

Madison Senior Center

Get Around / Build Opportunity for All

May 15th, 2013 at 7pm

Packers Community Center Room

Be Healthy & Safe / Live

May 23rd, 2013 at 7pm

Jefferson Middle School

Eat / Play & Enjoy

May 29th, 2013 at 7pm

The Villager Atrium Community Room