At the Nov. 6 Dane County Board of Supervisors meeting, the County Board approved the 2024 Dane County budget, according to a recent press release. The County Board made several amendments to the budget as proposed by County Executive Joe Parisi, some of which include:
- An increase in wages for point of service agencies, including an additional 2.5% point of service cost-of-living adjustment increase, bringing the total to 7.0%;
- An increase of $1.065 million to Journey Mental Health to allow wage increases among staff involved in the crisis response system;
- A $45,000 allocation for the Madison Reading Project to increase reading resources for children in many Dane County communities;
- An additional $217,500 in funding for supportive services for Fair Chance Housing projects;
- A $10 million increase to the Affordable Housing Development fund;
- A new capital housing fund of $8 million targeted for farmworker housing;
- Funding for identifying the placement of culturally diverse markers;
- Two positions to move the Regional Housing Strategy recommendations forward;
- A $100,000 increase in funding for youth programming across Dane County youth centers; and
- A $50,000 increase for Public Health Madison Dane County to increase funding for the Saving Our Babies initiative, with funding provided to the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness.
The operating budget totals $789,298,454. The capital budget is $179,216,700. The budget includes a levy increase of 13.6% driven primarily by increased debt service costs. Property taxes on the average Madison home will increase by $147.22.
The budget will now go on to Parisi for his signature.
