The Madison City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday declined funding for new staff to investigate tenant complaints and tenant rights education, instead adding Public Health staff to focus on infant mortality, among other priorities, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. The decisions come as a result of state Legislature-imposed limits on taxation.
The amendments passed by the committee added around $224,000 to the city’s record-setting roughly $405 million 2024 operating budget. The city faces fiscal constraints due to limitations on the amount it can raise in property taxes and in revenue through other fees.
The proposed budget amendments as a result cut $32,000 in funding aimed at violence prevention efforts at apartment complexes that are, or have been, at risk of being declared public nuisances. Sixty-eight thousand dollars, rather than the initially-proposed $100,000, were ultimately approved unanimously by the committee.
Council members advocated prioritizing staff at Public Health to help reduce infant mortality rates for people of color, which are more than double the rates for white babies in the area. The new staffer, a bilingual prenatal care nurse, added around a $55,420 expenditure.
A full-time assistant city attorney position was also funded by the Finance Committee, costing $107,140. The attorney’s salary will be offset by a variety of means, with a net cost of $17,000 to the general fund in 2024.
Other committee-approved spending includes $73,000 for contracts with community agencies working on early child care, youth, and older adult services, as well as $10,000 for drivers education scholarships in the Warner Park Community Recreation Center.
