Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway released her 2025 Executive Capital Budget and six-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which detail her funding proposals for streets, parks, bikeways, public buildings, water and stormwater systems, and other public assets in the city of Madison. The capital budget is one major piece of the city’s budget. In October, the mayor will introduce her 2025 Executive Operating Budget, which focuses on services, staffing, and programs.
While the city’s operating budget faces a structural deficit, its capital budget has different funding sources to finance capital projects (versus everyday services, which are funded by the operating budget). Funds in the capital budget cannot be used to fund the costs of everyday services to residents in the operating budget.
The 2025 proposed budget is $24 million lower than what agencies requested, and $12.3 million lower than the 2024 adopted budget. The budget also supports projects that help the city realize operational efficiencies over time to minimize the impact on taxpayers of supporting a growing city.
Madison also reduces taxpayer impacts by pursuing grant funding to support capital projects. Since 2020, the city has secured $563.9 million in federal and state funding to support improvements in Madison and bring more money to the local economy.
The mayor’s Executive Capital Budget will be discussed at City Finance Committee meetings on Sept. 16–17, with final Common Council action in November, allowing multiple opportunities for resident input. Full budget documents can be found on the 2025 Capital Budget website.
