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Cieslewicz's budget plan raises property taxes nearly 3%

Increase lowest since mayor took office

Kristin Czubkowski  —  10/07/2008 6:35 pm

Despite facing what he has called the toughest budget year yet, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz rolled out an operating budget plan Tuesday afternoon that would result in his lowest property tax increase on the average home since taking office.

The plan will raise taxes on the average home by 2.95 percent, or $53 on a home worth about $248,000, which is well below the 4.4 percent rate of inflation that was Cieslewicz's goal.

"The challenges we face this year in city government are also being felt by our citizens," he said of the goal. "Their city government is confronting record high fuel prices, but so are they. The city is dealing with a steep economic downtown, but so are they."

The overall property tax rate will increase from 7.32 percent to 7.48 percent, and overall spending in the city will increase 6 percent. Closing various tax incremental financing districts helped bring enough property onto the tax rolls to keep taxes on the average home down, Cieslewicz told the State Journal.

The mayor said his focus for the budget this year was on basic services, most notably the city's fire department. The budget would maintain funding for a new fire station on the far west side set to open April 2009 as well as a new paramedic unit. This includes not only the building and equipment, but necessary staffing increases.

Ald. Paul Skidmore attended the mayor's news conference Tuesday afternoon and spoke favorably of the commitment to emergency services in the mayor's budget.

"I'm very pleased at the commitment to public safety," he said. Skidmore is a representative for much of the area that the new Fire Station No. 12 will serve and has spoken out publicly about the lengthy time that far west-siders wait for fire service.

Cieslewicz said one of the more controversial items on his budget would likely be accounting for Metro buses fare increases -- 50 cents on adult cash fares and corresponding increases for multiple-use passes.

"It's difficult to raise fares, and I would rather not do it if I didn't have to," he said. "But when you look at that we have not raised pass fares since 2000, we have not raised fares at all since 2005, and you see what has happened to fuel costs in that period," Metro would need a 25 cent increase in fares to sustain itself, he said. A 50 cent fare increase would allow for increased services such as beefing up security at transfer points, adding a marketing specialist, increasing route service and doubling the Transit for Jobs program from $40,000 to $80,000. Transit for Jobs aids low-income workers in paying bus fare.

The single biggest cut from this year's agenda would be the elimination of weekly trash pick-up for a large items, such as sofas, down to every other week. The cut would save the city about $230,000, Cieslewicz said. Besides that, Cieslewicz said most of the cuts would be smaller cuts, like supplies, from every agency.

Another major source of contention, however, could be city jobs, he said. The mayor's budget accounts for approximately 21 positions being cut, although at least some of them are currently vacant. Cieslewicz said it was "unclear" how many people would lose their jobs, particularly since union employees have the option of taking a lower position if theirs is eliminated.

"I'm very worried about the work of the city getting done," said Ald. Brenda Konkel. "I think maybe there's a lot more 'basic services' getting cut than what you might be led to believe, a lot of positions being eliminated that I'm not clear what the impact of it is going to be. ... We clearly have a lot of questions we need to ask on how this is going to affect the departments."

Two offices in particular that faced position consolidations were the Office of Community Services and Community Development Block Grants office, which would result in two full-time positions eliminated and a total savings of about $200,000.

Those jobs eliminations combined with the mayor's proposal to hold the two office's funds to 2008 levels, meaning there would not be a cost-of-living increase for the offices, could result in contention at the City Council level, according to Konkel and other council members.

"I would say a freeze is a cut," said Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway. "The organizations that this money goes to are all in the same boat that the city is. Fuel prices are going up, rent is going up, supplies are going up ... So the fact of keeping their funding level is that they will have to find someplace to cut their budget."

Rhodes-Conway added that even police officers have commented recently on the importance of community services in preventing crime in the long-term, particularly youth-related crime. Without the programs, the need for police officers would continue to rise, officers argue. While she did not take a position yet on what could be done in the budget to ensure these programs' survival, she said the city would need to discuss it and "think very carefully about what we're investing in now, and whether or not down the road it's going to pay off for us."

Rhodes-Conway also expressed concern about the Metro fare increases and what that would do to current and future ridership. The city should look at cutting or postponing more projects from the capital budget, she said. Major projects such as building roads or buildings impact the operating budget not only in terms of debt service, but also in terms of staffing and resources for those new projects, she said.

Cieslewicz said there might also be some controversy about doubling the amount of room taxes from hotels that the city receives from $1 million to $2 million.

"I feel very strongly that the room tax is there for property tax relief first and foremost," he said, adding that the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, which might protest the increase, has also seen an increase in their revenues from room taxes increase from $800,000 to $1.7 million since Cieslewicz took office.

Overall, the mayor said he tried to create a budget that not only fit the circumstances of this year -- which include a 40 percent increase in fuel costs, a $1.25 million decrease in investment revenues, a $1.5 million decrease in building permit revenues, and increasing debt maintenance and health insurance costs -- but those of future years, as well.

"We did think about future years, and unfortunately, I don't have any reason to think that 2010 is going to be any better than 2009," he said.

For that reason, Cieslewicz limited the amount he took from the city's "rainy day" savings fund to $3.3 million, or only $300,000 more than the average year, to keep the funds in the $30 million "savings account."

Still, he said, "It is a rainy day fund, and it certainly is raining out there."

Kristin Czubkowski  —  10/07/2008 6:35 pm