Here’s the propaganda. Trying to figure out what it all means it near indecipherable, the county budget lacks detail that is needed, so we’ll see how it plays out over the next few weeks in committees as Supervisors try to get their questions answered. I have one email from Parisi and his budget memo below, plus a rant!
RANT FIRST
Tenant Resource Center was underfunded for 17 years. At one point we cut our hours in half and took a $10,000 cut to try to get to a point where we could make it work. We got $98,000 in 1998 to run the same services that in 2015 we got $90,000 for. We also got $5,000 in eviction prevention funds. When CAC got the contract, they stopped serving tenants unless they were at risk of homelessness, so no help with security deposits, repairs, breaking leases etc. Tenants outside of the city of Madison have no services in Dane County. Only if you are being evicted or losing your housing or are already homeless. To do less services, the county is now looking at adding $170,000. Plus doubling the eviction prevention funds for JFF. I’m glad someone else was able to get through on the HUGE need for tenants and eviction prevention, but is sucks that we were ignored for 17 years. Could you imagine what we could have done with an additional $170,000 + $50,000 in eviction funds?
GOOFY EMAIL FROM JOE PARISI
Again, too little, too late.
TO: Human Services Purchase of Service Partners
DATE: September 29, 2016
RE: 2017 Dane County BudgetFor the second time in as many years I am pleased to announce that my budget proposal will contain an inflationary adjustment for our valued purchase of service partners. The county’s fiscal condition struggled following the Great Recession as focus was placed on rebuilding our depleted reserve fund and stabilizing funding for our safety net programs. Now that our finances are on a more stable footing we can again focus on providing those who care for our most vulnerable citizens with a much needed and deserved pay increase.
My budget allocates nearly $750,000 to provide a 0.7% inflationary increase for those providing services to our citizens with special needs, disabilities and aging related needs. The county values your work and appreciates your commitment to helping those who need it most.
Crumbs . . . scramble to snatch them up before they disappear.
AND NOW, THE MOTHER OF ALL PROPAGANDA
Can’t wait to figure out what it all ACTUALLY means. Here’s Parisi’s budget if you want to give it a shot. Sorry, I didn’t include the pictures.
Good Morning
Today I am introducing my 2017 Dane County Budget. I hope you find the summary below helpful.
Thank you for all you do!
Joe Parisi
Joseph T. Parisi
Dane County ExecutiveMy 2017 budget – “An Investment for Our Future – makes unprecedented investments in compassionate services for our most vulnerable, infrastructure critical to continued economic vitality and safety, along with a quality of life that creates an environment where new families and businesses flourish. This budget is a clear statement of the priority Dane County places on green energy – harnessing the power of the sun to run our facilities and capturing naturally occurring bio-gas, converting it into millions of dollars of revenue to sustain services – and mitigating and adapting to the realities of a changing climate.
The efforts this budget undertakes reflect the values we hold so dear. Good wages, educational achievement, reducing economic and racial disparities, improved mental health, cleaner waters and conservation, safer roads for both cars and bikes, and housing for those who have fallen on hard times.
“An Investment for Our Future” codifies partnerships coming together to build upon our community’s successes and improves upon our challenges. The best reflection of this is the new “North Madison Early Childhood Zone” that will help young moms and dads provide stable learning environments for the next generation of young minds. Following months of deliberative work by my office, the United Way of Dane County, the City of Madison, and Madison Metropolitan School District, together we are maximizing the generous vision of the Rennebohm Foundation to the greatest number of families.
From the time newborns are brought home, through their growth and development, and to the point of walking them through the doors on their first day of 4k, the new “North Madison Early Childhood Zone” is the highest concentrated, most collaborative effort to date to improve achievement at home, school, and within our community. The goal is simple: helping young families set roots for success. All kids deserve the opportunity to grow up in healthy, happy homes where moms and dads have the life skills and professional training to provide for their families. Increased stability at home will result in improved academic achievement and eventual life success.
Data informed tangible solutions brought community partners together to make lives better for kids in an area of clear need. The same is true for what this budget does for our waters. Science shows our work to date has kept troublesome nutrients out of streams that feed our lakes. Our efforts on the farm and in communities must continue but new data shows the most substantial, cost-effective means of getting algae-growing phosphorus out of our lakes is to remove polluted sediment that accrued in those streams over many decades. As water flows over that sludge, it picks up and carries phosphorus to our waters in a steady stream.
With $12-million over the next four years, we can rehabilitate 33 miles of streams and remove 870,000 pounds of phosphorus that feeds directly into our lakes daily. This breakthrough discovery is instrumental at shutting off the continuous feed of the algae going into the Yahara Chain of Lakes. This is the only way we can accomplish the community’s goal of reducing phosphorus by 50% set forth by the Clean Lakes Alliance and other partners.
This summer was our latest reminder that more water moves through those lakes when it rains. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the summer of 2016 was Wisconsin’s 4th wettest on record. That was prior to late September’s heavy rains. This summer was also the hottest on record globally. It’s imperative we in Dane County provide bold and clear leadership on investing in green sources of power. That’s why I am proposing expansive new solar arrays that more than double county government’s total green energy production. In addition to cleaner, greener energy consumption, new panels at the Dane County Alliant Energy Center and the Job Center will reduce utility bills that continue to climb. I am also creating the new Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change, to manage our energy and fuel consumption reduction efforts and convene the County Executive’s new “Community Commission on Climate Change” to advance our leadership on cleaner fuels like compressed natural gas, solar power, and other efforts to the public and private sectors.
New technology at our Landfill will allow us to capture and clean more garbage producing gas for use as compressed natural gas for our growing county fleet of clean fuel burning vehicles. Excess of this naturally occurring gas can be marketed and sold for renewable energy credits, potentially creating millions in new revenue to support the good work of county government in the coming years.
Our Starting Point
Because we right-sized county budget line items together over the past five years, our “rainy day” fund is the healthiest it has ever been. Expenses and revenues are projected with greater prudence and dollars unspent are set aside for the next occasion that economic times aren’t great. When that next great budget challenge presents, the vitality of the reserve fund will reduce service cuts and layoffs similar to what county government experienced during the last national recession.
As a total percentage of operating expenses, our fund balance has room for growth. That’s why we have to be realistic about budgeting revenues like sales tax. This year’s budget was based on a projection our vibrant local economy could generate a 6% increase in sales tax collections. At the time of publication, sales tax collections year to date were up 3.6% from a year ago. The budget I’m introducing for 2017 better aligns projected revenues for what the county has actually experienced this year and what we best believe is possible for the coming year.
We also need to be mindful of “one-time” opportunities like this year’s levy relief provided by the early closure of Verona’s tax incremental financing district for Epic and incorporate that into our ongoing budget planning.
We were fortunate to have a cost effective response to our solicitation for a health care provider and look forward to our new working relationship with Dean Health Care. Stable health care costs allowed me to give our county workers a wage increase for the coming year, fund the first phase of our commitment toward providing a $15 minimum wage for those who do work in the community on our behalf, and offer the agencies that contract with the county their second consecutive administrative adjustment.
All budgets have challenges to manage, but county government’s financial position heading into 2017 continues to be strong, the result of progressive values implemented with sound fiscal management.
Human Services
A couple of years ago former Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Michael Morgan and I co-chaired an effort spearheaded by the United Way of Dane County to bring the community together around better ways to support kids and parents. The goals of the “Born Learning Delegation” were to address the achievement gap even before kids enter school by focusing on their development at home. “Born Learning” set an ambitious goal: by the year 2020, help 80% of the 4-year olds in our community achieve age-expected development and be ready to begin school.
What we found in our data driven analysis was the need to focus on early childhood development was greatest in the Leopold Elementary attendance area, Sun Prairie and Verona. In my 2013 budget, the County teamed with the United Way to create Early Childhood Zones, wrap-around comprehensive services to help moms and dads build a foundation of success for their kids. Based on eligibility for free and reduced lunch, the next area of greatest need for a Childhood Zone was the north side of Madison. The data showed Mendota Elementary had the highest percentage of low income students in all of Dane County.
The brand new North Madison Early Childhood Zone created in my 2017 budget brings county and community resources together in the interest of families. Assistance with housing and employment come hand-in-hand with nurturing young ones. Helping them learn to read and stabilizing their living situations gets them primed for 4k and continued successes through their schooling years. Dane County, the City of Madison, and United Way all have financial resources invested in this effort but it wouldn’t be made possible without the incredible generosity of the Rennebohm Foundation which is slated to invest millions into young families on the north side in the coming years. Centered around the elementary schools in the Blackhawk Middle School catchment area, this brand new Zone epitomizes the very best that happens when local governments, schools, and non-profits work together – – a community stepping forward with shared solutions to a shared challenge. The new North Madison Early Childhood Zone will have a variety of home visitation programs including an Early Childhood Initiative team. The county’s contribution to this bold new partnership for 2017 is $79,000.
My Human Services budget totals over $294 million and includes new and expanded efforts to address barriers to our young people learning and their families succeeding. Together with Madison School Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham, we are creating a fourth Mental Health Crisis Team for the school district to ensure all four high school attendance areas have dedicated groups of professionals focused on the needs of our young people. This new team will focus exclusively on the LaFollette attendance area and be jointly funded by the school district and county.
Similarly, I am making additional county funds available to partner with more school districts outside of Madison to expand upon our highly successful efforts to date. Since starting the first Dane County Mental Health Crisis Teams in 2013, we’ve made a difference for hundreds of students and families across Dane County in the Madison, Verona, Sun Prairie, and most recently the Middleton-Cross Plains, DeForest, and Wisconsin Heights School Districts. The Waunakee, Mount Horeb and Deerfield School Districts have all expressed an interest in partnering to add teams in 2017. With the additional $153,000 I am including for new school based mental teams in 2017, Dane County’s commitment to improving the mental health and educational experience of our young people totals 481,925.
Our focus on mental health is also expanded in this budget through additional dollars to Journey for the Community Crisis Response program. A year ago, I added $82,000 to this effort to ensure law enforcement had more resources at their disposal to defuse situations precipitated by mental health emergencies. The additional $100,000 for 2017 bolsters this critical service.
While there are countless areas of direct community impact throughout the Human Services budget, I want to call special attention to the work underway to assist those who struggle with homelessness. With over $2.4 million invested in services and millions more now committed to a Day Resource Center at the site of the Chamber of Commerce Building, it’s important to evaluate all that’s underway in our community prior to identifying where to best prioritize resources to address further need. With necessary city approvals and remodeling due to be completed next summer, my budget fully funds day resource center operations for 2017 at $330,000.
Three years ago, I created a new fund to help our Joining Forces for Families (JFF) better keep families in their homes. Last year I doubled this “Eviction Prevention Fund” out of a highlighted need to stabilize living situations for families with school aged kids. Our JFF workers do intensive case management with these families. They help them sign up for all benefits and services they’re eligible for, connecting them with employment and housing. This year, the program is on track to serve over 200 families and 400 kids. 88% of the families we have helped through this program in 2016 have been African American, Latino, or Asian. By addressing poverty family by family we are preventing homelessness, increasing employment, and reducing disparities. Given the effectiveness of the “Eviction Prevention Fund,” I am once again doubling this fund for our JFF workers in 2017 to $100,000.
Consistent with priorities identified in the Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, this budget provides additional resources to get people off the streets and into housing. We need to make sure people in need of services know what’s available to them in our community. My budget expands the capabilities of the “Housing Hotline,” adding two new staff members to help better connect homeless individuals with existing services, while improving community outreach and education. This initiative totals $90,000 and is designed to improve coordination and communication of service delivery.
My proposal also contains $80,000 in new county money to create two full-time housing locators to work proactively at identifying available housing – one to help single adults, the other to work with families. Locators reach out to landlords in an effort to develop and maintain relationships in order to shorten the length of homelessness that people experience by increasing the number of units available. They also educate property owners and managers about housing programs and the need. These new positions can build upon our progress made at helping our community’s homeless veterans. To date we have housed 151 veterans.
The City of Madison requested I include $1-million for the acquisition and development of a third joint housing project involving the County and City. The first effort on Rethke Avenue created housing for 60 adults. The second project on Tree Lane is focused on getting dozens of families into housing. This newest site slated for 2017 proposes the creation of more single housing units. I’m also including $2-million for the Dane County Affordable Housing Fund to continue to assist community partners in creating new opportunities to fulfill the goals of the “Housing First” initiative.
I want to call special attention with this budget to the incredible work our Human Services Department does for seniors in our community. Highlighted by our incredibly successful Aging and Disability Resource Center, we are dedicating nearly $9.3-million for senior services in 2017, an almost 4% increase over a year ago. Working with our Area Agency on Aging, my budget adds dollars for senior case management, nutrition site management, the RSVP driver services program, Caregivers Support, and cultural diversity outreach efforts.
There continues to be a growing acute need to help the young people of our community stay on a path toward academic, personal, and eventually professional success. Increasing incidents of gun violence in our community illustrate the need for a continued focus on prevention. That’s why I am adding a fourth team leader to the Dane County Gang Response Intervention Unit, so that there will be one for each of the Madison School District’s high school attendance areas. These trained professionals will be assigned to the highest needs areas and work directly with our youth. Building up a support system for young people whose growing up experiences are complicated by poverty, addiction, and unstable living environments helps them steer clear of gangs and other unproductive outlets.
Equity
My “Access to Opportunity” initiative of a year ago called attention to the many leadership roles county government can serve in reducing disparities both within our operations and throughout the community. To date, we’ve hired a Director and staff and office remodeling is well underway. In 2017, we’ll take the next steps with the “Tamara Grigsby Office for Equity and Inclusion.”
I’ve long maintained one of the best job creation programs to reducing economic and employment disparities is a driver’s license. This past summer, we partnered with the Madison School District, the Cooperative Extension, and AAA Wisconsin to help 100 Madison school kids who otherwise couldn’t afford driver’s education an opportunity to earn their licenses. 90 of the students enrolled passed the classroom portion and have begun their behind the wheel time.
This budget continues that work, helping 25 kids at each of the four Madison high schools, while creating a new scholarship fund for students outside of Madison whose families otherwise have trouble finding the nearly $500 it takes to get into a drivers’ education course. I reached out to school superintendents across Dane County this summer and a number of districts supported such an effort including Verona, Middleton, DeForest, and Mount Horeb. I am starting this scholarship fund with $50,000. Dollars will be awarded by the “Tamara Grigsby Office for Equity and Inclusion,” under the guidance of new Director Wesley Sparkman.
It’s also worth noting the accomplishments of several components of “Access to Opportunity” that will continue in the coming year. The Drivers’ License Recovery Program at the YWCA is getting more people back behind the wheel while fulfilling hundreds of hours of invaluable community service work. Having the ability to drive is such an integral component to maintaining employment. Getting more families to work was the goal of our “Southwest Partnership,” where Dane County Joining Forces for Families, Common Wealth Development, Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ, and the City of Madison helped 82 people in the past year pave a path to employment through a transitional employment program. 80% of those in the program got a job. 36 started the program homeless and 20 of them have since found permanent housing.
Dane County has a new Minority Recruitment and Retention Coordinator, a position created in my 2016 budget. Consistent with the 2015 Dane Racial Equity Analysis, for next year I am funding a new Manager of Policy and Program Improvement within the “Tamara Grigsby Office of Equity and Inclusion.” This budget has the dollars to replace the County’s employment application process to ensure it is more inclusive. With the support of our workforce, I have directed the Department of Administration to create a new means of more fairly compensating county employees whose ability to speak multiple languages enables them to better serve the public. As Dane County’s racial demographics evolve, we need to be sure our growing Spanish and Hmong speaking communities can access services available to them. It’s with that same vein I am partnering with Centro Hispano and creating a new bilingual community liaison position to team with Joining Forces for Families to serve families in and around the Sun Prairie area. This is similar to a new effort we teamed with Centro on for Madison’s south side this year.
One area the County seeks to enhance its equity and diversity efforts is in its purchases of goods and services. This includes expanding the diversity of its vendors, improving outreach to minority vendors, and reviewing purchasing and contracting procedures to open opportunities to minority and women-owned firms and emerging businesses. To this end, my budget includes the addition of an equity purchasing officer to expand capabilities within the Department of Administration. This position is scheduled to be filled mid 2017 to coincide with the expected results of a County Board consulting study of equity in contracting and purchasing practices.
A year ago, I created the new Dane County Re-Entry Team, bringing together professionals from the Sheriff’s Office and Human Services to assist inmates with housing, mental health, and addiction treatment needs – barriers to successfully re-integrating into the community after their time is served. In this budget, I am moving an additional vacant position from Human Services that focused on re-entry to the Sheriff’s Department to further enhance the efficiency of this group’s work.
Clean Lakes
While each budget offers the opportunity to showcase the ingenuity of county staff, one of the boldest examples of that I’ve seen in my years as County Executive comprises the cornerstone of my budget for cleaning our lakes.
Two years ago, I put $60,000 in the county budget to analyze the water quality and phosphorus content of the miles of streams and creeks that feed into Lake Mendota. A year of research later, the findings are stark: if we don’t remove accrued sludge that sits at the bottom of these streams it will take 99 years to see a 50% reduction in phosphorus that finds its way into our lakes. Even more concerning, the roadmap to cleaning our lakes completed a couple of years ago (Yahara CLEAN) suggests it will cost $78-milllion to achieve that 50% reduction.
No one wants to wait 100 years for clean lakes.
Our community has long cited that 50% reduction as the goal in our lake clean-up. We can’t accomplish it in this lifetime without getting into these waterways and removing the continuous source of phosphorus that seeps daily into our waters. Spending $78 million and having to wait 99 years to see the benefits of those investments isn’t the answer.
Testing shows the phosphorus concentration in this stream sediment is seven times more potent than what’s found on crop fields in the Mendota watershed! There are more than 5,600 acres in the watershed. County staff and farmers have implemented conservation and runoff reduction practices on 90% of those lands. Nutrient management plans have been completed on 75% of those cropland acres. Soil testing shows farmlands in the watershed are on average already two times better than the state standards on phosphorus concentration.
This data says what’s been done to date has worked at reducing what nutrients go on the land, when they’re applied, and most importantly, keeping them there. We’re making progress. We can’t accomplish our goal without getting at what’s already in the water.
The numbers are quite simple. By investing $12 million over the next four years we can remove 870,000 pounds of phosphorus – – Dane County’s boldest, most tangible effort yet to improving the health and vitality of waters so integral to our economy and quality of life. By simple math, removing the muck and sludge that long settled into 33 miles of streams feeding our lakes will cost roughly $15 per pound of phosphorus.
These waterways provide a steady feed of phosphorus to our lakes. Until the sludge under the water flowing above is free and clear of pollutants, they will continue to channel a steady stream that we need to clean up. This project will have the added benefit of returning these stream bottoms to the way they were back in 1890, allowing for new fisheries and healthy habitats for wildlife.
Studies show that even if all phosphorus and sediment stopped entering streams today – all runoff from farms and cities stops immediately – it would still take 60 years for all the established sediment and phosphorus to be flushed out of the system. In summary, a significant component of what hurts our lakes is already in our waters. This budget starts the work of getting it out, removing 125 years of accrued sediment.
Kevin Connors and his team of engineers at Land and Water Resources should be commended for crafting such a common sense solution. This budget has the first $4 million for this multi- year effort.
Further downstream, my budget starts a new, multi-year effort to restore Cherokee Marsh. Since 1937, Cherokee Marsh has lost more than 275 acres. A 14-acre peninsula that existed within the marsh as recently as 1982 has become lost. This used to trap phosphorus-laden sediment prior to entering Lake Mendota. I’m putting $100,000 in the budget to fund a comprehensive study to analyze the best means of restoring Cherokee Marsh, trapping sediments, and reducing phosphorus in the Yahara River’s last stop before it enters Lake Mendota.
While this work gets underway, we must continue our efforts both on the farm and in communities to reduce run-off. We are making progress. In partnership with Yahara WINs, this budget includes $100,000 in new revenue for additional county resources to compile the incredibly valuable data needed to inform on the farm efforts moving forward. Under the direction of new County Conservationist Amy Callis, additional soil conservationists – funded by the Madison Metropolitan Sewage District’s Yahara WINs effort – joined the county team already working in the watershed this year. Their important efforts to assist farmers in developing proper management plans will continue the many year trend of limiting what goes on the land and keeping what is applied, on the land and out of the water. All told, our partnership with MMSD is funding $400,000 in clean water work with the Department of Land and Water Resources in 2017.
If we keep working together, we can have clean lakes and vibrant family farms. My budget creates a new $1.1 million county cost-sharing program, making dollars available to assist small to medium sized producers who are less financially able on their own to develop storage and other resources to manage manure application. The initial findings from a county board initiated analysis done by the University of Wisconsin indicates the County and farmers could further reduce phosphorus run-off through investing in manure storage structures shared by neighboring farms. More analysis is needed and these dollars will help determine the feasibility of such partnerships.
County government can assist with these efforts by restoring lands acquired through conservation and water quality funds into prairies and other land use practices not only good for run-off, but also our pollinators. My budget creates a new full-time Restoration Specialist for Land and Water Resources to help with these conversions and manage what will now be two Dane County Conservation Crews.
In partnership with Operation Fresh Start (OFS), I created the first of these crews of young people in 2014 to assist our parks and their corresponding Friends’ groups with caring for our lands and outdoor resources. This budget funds a second full team, creating additional opportunities for the amazing young adults with OFS to help maintain our park and open spaces. The first Conservation Crew has made incredible accomplishments and been a mutually rewarding experience for both our Parks and Operation Fresh Start. I look forward to doubling our efforts, getting more young people outdoors and giving them skills and training helpful to securing employment both now and down the road.
Dane County debuted its’ first “Clean Beach Corridor” this summer at Lake Mendota Park in Middleton. Offering a chance to play and swim at no cost in clean water made Lake Mendota County Park an incredibly popular draw for kids and families this summer. Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and I have agreed to partner and share the cost of two additional “Clean Beach Corridors” together in 2017. We’re looking to develop one at Warner Park, the other at Bernie’s Beach to improve access and opportunity for safe and fun outdoor recreation.
The 2015 Dane County Pollinator Protection Plan appropriately called attention to the need to help bees and butterflies survive and thrive. The Dane County Environmental Council has been tasked with implementing components of the plan and I am funding its full request for dollars next year. Our pollinators are impacted by land use decisions, pesticides, and other factors. In addition to prairie restoration on county owned lands currently in crop production, we’re putting a “green cap” on our landfill, seeding down the top with prairie grasses and other growth attractive to our pollinators.
Back in 2015, the county budget included $200,000 for construction of a new Center for Rural History at Schumacher Farm County Park just outside Waunakee. The Center is a joint project between the Friends of Schumacher Farm and the County. The Friends are currently raising dollars for construction. This budget adds $200,000 for a higher level of county support to help make the project a success. The Friends and County are working collaboratively on an agreement where the Friends would take responsibility for completing the interior finishing of the Center and the day to day maintenance once work is done. The budget also includes $100,000 to complete the ongoing restoration at Dane County’s Indian Lake County Park. When completed this incredible gem of our parks system will have new shelters, restrooms, and a renewed fresh water fishery.
Transportation
Few experiences rival hopping a bike on a sunny day and heading to one of our Dane County Parks or taking a ride in the countryside. That’s why from designing new trails, expanding existing ones, and partnering with local units of government on developing safe corridors for cycling, this budget is far and away the boldest in the county’s history for bicycling.
I am including over $2-million for three new off-trail projects, more staff to accelerate design and engineering work, and dollars for nearly 25 miles of new on-road paved bike lanes paired with re-done county highways.
While work progresses on phase one of the incredibly picturesque Lower Yahara Trail between Lake Farm County Park to McFarland, it’s important we continue the momentum and begin design on future, equally scenic phases of the project. I’m putting $305,000 in the budget to develop construction drawings and cost estimates for a one mile segment of trail between Fish Camp County Park and Lake Kegonsa State Park. This second phase of the project will include a combination of paved surface, bridges, and boardwalk, similar to the first phase that’s due for completion in the coming year.
The death of a cyclist on Highway 14 near Cross Plains this summer re-started a long conversation about prospects for a Good Neighbor Trail linking Middleton with western Dane County. Early planning and concepts for this trail were completed several years ago (2011) and the greatest hurdle then remains the project’s biggest challenge to date: identifying property owners within the likely trail corridor who are willing to sell or grant easements for trail development.
To assist with that, I am creating a new “Black Earth Creek Connections Fund,” matching grant dollars local communities can access through the county to assist in continued acquisition and easements for development of the Good Neighbor Trail. The area of greatest need for off-road trail corridor lies between the Village of Mazomanie and City of Middleton. At my direction, county staff will continue to identify ways to link public and privately owned lands in the area to assist in bringing this long held vision to reality. This trail is not only a safer alternative to Highway 14 but it would be a boon for local economic development and tourism. Properties acquired through this new county program should be within two miles of Highway 14 and help connect publicly owned lands within the Black Earth Creek corridor.
Additionally, I met this year with Wisconsin and Southern Railroad to secure an important river crossing into Dane County for the “Great Sauk Trail,” a trail project currently underway in Sauk County that will one day make it possible to get on a bike in Middleton and pedal up to Devil’s Lake State Park. An old rail bridge that crosses into Sauk City parallel to Highway 12 offers great promise to connect our two counties and expand outdoor recreation throughout the region. Subsequent to our meetings, the railroad has agreed to work with the state on converting old rail bed in northwest Dane County into a “Rails to Trails” project, offering tangible corridor for the first leg of the “Great Sauk Trail’s” journey into our county.
Similar energy is building in the eastern part of Madison and Dane County for a missing link to the Glacial Drumlin Trail, a continuous off-road trail spanning from Dodgeville all the way to Milwaukee. Years ago, the County secured over $215,000 from then Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin to begin planning work for a six-mile segment of the trail from I-39 to Highway N in Cottage Grove. With the state Department of Natural Resources completing the acquisition of lands needed for the trail, it’s time to move this project forward. I am adding a park planner position in this budget to take on the task of managing this project through the often complicated phases of planning, design, and engineering work needed to get this missing trail segment initiated. I am also including $130,000 in county capital dollars for necessary planning and design.
In addition to developing new trails, similar to roads, it’s imperative to take care of the investments we have made to date. I am putting $420,000 in this budget to start maintenance and repairs on over 9 miles of the Cap City Trail. This will be a multi-year restoration to improve the safety and ride of this well used trail. Built in 2001, this trail sees over 125,000 users each year.
With these efforts and our recent receipt of a Safe Routes to School Grant in partnership with the State of Wisconsin and Bike Federation, I am confident we will build upon our growing legacy as one of the most bike friendly counties in the country.
It’s equally important we invest in the safety of our roads as well. I am adding to the budget request from the Department of Public Works and Highway to expedite road projects in areas long overdue for resurfacing and repair. These projects have been engineered at my direction to include paved bike lanes wherever possible, including County Highway Y adjacent to the “Rails to Trails” rail corridor project referenced above by Wisconsin and Southern Railroad. All told, my budget adds nearly 25 miles of on-road, newly paved bike lanes in addition to reconstructing major thoroughfares in partnership with communities like the City of Middleton and Village of Waunakee.
My highway budget adds a total of five new positions to the Highway Department. This demonstrated commitment to safer, better maintained roads thru all seasons will pay dividends not only when the snow flies, but also when rapidly spreading invasive weeds like wild parsnip sprout in roadside ditches next spring. The budget acquires six more clean fuel burning, compressed natural gas powered highway trucks to move snow in winter and extra mowers to accelerate timely work needed in early summer to knock out pervasive, toxic weeds.
Climate Change/Green Energy
If you talk with growers about the summer of 2016, they’ll tell you they’ve never seen crops so healthy.
While our ever-changing climate may provide remarkable crop yields in the short term, scientists across the planet are feverishly trying to get world leaders to take notice – – 2014 was the hottest year on record until there was 2015. Now in 2016 the hottest August on record continued a streak of 11 consecutive months that have set new monthly high-temperature records. A recent analysis from NASA shows that Earth is warming faster than it has at any time in the past 1,000 years, meaning there’s every reason to believe this calendar year will top all of its predecessors.
While Congress balks at new emissions restrictions proposed by the President and state experts are prohibited to work on climate change because of an Executive Order from the Governor, local governments are once again in the best (and sadly it appears only) position to demonstrate leadership and vision. We are seeing the effects of climate change in our county. Lake Mendota isn’t staying frozen in winter as long as it used to. 150 years of recordkeeping shows a consistent downward trend in the number of days between when the lake freezes over and when the ice breaks up, a full month per year shorter today than a century and a half ago. A 2011 report by the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change predicts temperatures in the state are likely to warm 4-9 degrees by the middle of this century. We’ve already experienced longer growing seasons, more significant rain events, more heat waves, and warmer nighttime and winter temperatures.
Following a 2013 report by the Dane County Climate Change Action Council that I commissioned, I embarked upon an aggressive conversion of our county fleet of cars and trucks, away from fossil fuels, and toward cleaner burning vehicles that run on renewable compressed natural gas (CNG) that county government produces. We were among the first places in the country to plow snow with CNG powered highway patrol trucks. To date, we have acquired 65 vehicles that run on CNG, and by the end of next year will have 19 heavy duty plows on the road running on carbon friendly CNG, produced naturally at our county landfill. New CNG vehicles are included in my budgets for Solid Waste and Land and Water Resources as well.
The Cow Power projects we partnered on with the private sector near Waunakee and Middleton capture methane equivalent to taking 8,000 cars off the road per year. A new pilot project at the Dane County Landfill captures carbon dioxide and converts it into dry ice, reducing emissions and bettering the air we breathe. When fully implemented, this project will reduce CO2 emissions by 59,000 tons per year, the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road.
At my direction, as we design new county buildings, we include solar development. Our airport maintenance facility was the largest publicly owned solar array in Wisconsin until we opened our new East District Campus this year. With well over 800 solar panels, our new “Green Highway Garage,” generates 222 kW of power to offset our electrical usage. Until this budget, that project was the largest publicly owned solar array in the State of Wisconsin.
In short, we have done a lot. We have a consistent track record of pursuing cleaner, greener sources of energy, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, and reinventing county operations to make them run better not only for the public, but also the environment in which we live.
A recent agreement with the LaFollette Institute at the University of Wisconsin will help us better assess the impact of the progress we’ve accomplished to date. Helping our other local public and private partners implement the climate change strategies county government has embraced in recent years will take leadership and coordination. That’s why I am creating the new Dane County Office on Energy and Climate Change as a new division of the Office of the County Executive. Including it within county government’s highest elected office demonstrates the critical nature and priority this issue deserves in the decades to come. This Office and the corresponding new Dane County Council on Climate Change are the next steps in the work my administration initiated years ago to develop the Dane County Climate Action Plan. The Council will include representatives of local governments, business, utilities, and environmental advocates, working together to extend the work of county government across our rapidly growing region.
This budget also funds the most robust solar power program in Dane County history, allowing more of our facilities to be self-sustaining and efficient. I am proposing more than $2-million in new solar development, more than doubling all of county government’s total solar energy production portfolio next year alone. New systems for the Dane County Job Center and the Dane County Alliant Energy Center will have enough panels to generate 770 kW of sustainable sun-powered energy and cutting CO2 emissions by 777 tons per year. Combined, these systems will cut direct energy costs by $87,000 in their first year. As the cost of electricity increases over time due to inflation, these projects will save county government over $2.1 million in energy savings in the years to come. The solar array proposed for the AEC will be the largest publicly owned system in the state. When the projects in this new initiative are completed, Dane County will be the proud owner of the top four public solar projects in Wisconsin.
My budget builds upon our legacy of being a national innovator and leader on maximizing biofuels for the county’s environmental and financial gain. There are over 1900 landfills in the United States. Under this “Investment for our Future,” Dane County will become one of less than a handful of landfill facilities nationwide to clean and distribute naturally occurring gas in mass quantity for vehicle fuel. County government can capitalize on the increasing national market demand for clean burning fuel that’s low on carbon dioxide emissions. I am including $18 million for development of biogas cleaning technology that will move gas made by trash at the landfill to parts of the country where compressed natural gas in vehicles is commonplace. We can sell over two millions gallons equivalent of our CNG each year, earning renewable energy credits and low carbon fuel standard credits without impacting the ability to power our county fleet first. Once complete, this new clean fuel program will earn county taxpayers $6 to $8-million per year in new revenue and reduce carbon emissions by 30,000 tons per year.
Investing in innovation, we are proliferating access to and use of renewable sources of energy. This system can be installed and fully operational by early 2018, creating new dollars to support county services while at the same time reducing carbon footprint equivalent to removing 3,300 vehicles from the road per year.
2017 will be Dane County’s cleanest, greenest year ever.
Public Safety
Through the first seven months of this year the Madison Fire Department responded to 288 calls for suspected heroin and opiate overdoses. That was two and a half times greater than the same number of those incidents reported thru July of 2015. In the six weeks leading up to the introduction of this budget, there were 60 overdose calls across Dane County – an average of 10 per week. Here and across the country, heroin and opiate abuse is a public health and public safety crisis of critical proportion.
The proliferation of overdose countering medications like Narcan, including with our Dane County Sheriff’s deputies, has helped reduce the number of fatalities but the statistics bear out that people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds are abusing this incredibly addictive drug. Its properties make it very difficult to walk away from, even for the best intentioned users who find it challenging to both start and stick with treatment.
Counter-acting medications, intensive treatment and most importantly dedication and persistence on the part of the addict and his or her family is the only path to recovery. Getting people to choose and stay on that path is the greatest challenge. We must be sure to take full advantage of opportunities to guide those burdened by addiction to the help they need. Releasing someone who’s booked into jail subsequent to an overdose only to have them back in the emergency room and eventually back in jail again hours or days later solves nothing. This needs to be a key area of focus for our Re-Entry Team.
For those who slide into the criminal justice system it’s critical we get at the underlying cause of their crime. That’s why I am funding a permanent opiates counselor position to assist with deferred prosecutions in the District Attorney’s (DA’s) Office. That position to this point was supported by state monies. In addition to committing county dollars to continue that program, the DA is optimistic in securing a second grant to double the program’s capacity and provide critical intervention to dozens of more individuals with opiates addictions in 2017.
People’s first stop after an overdose is the emergency room (ER). My budget matches dollars from other non-profits in partnership with the Safe Communities Coalition and local hospitals to pay for “Recovery Coaches” to respond to the ER when an overdose victim is brought in for care. The goal: early intervention – especially with first time users – to get them to realize the dangerous path they’ve come upon and see the merit of enlisting into treatment.
Additionally, I’ve asked the Department of Public Health to coordinate the community’s resources and response to this incredibly severe challenge. The Department is in the process of reorganizing and reprioritizing workloads to dedicate more staff time to prevention and intervention. These staff will convene an oversight group of stakeholders committed to reducing the number of overdoses and monitor data trends from emergency medical services, law enforcement, and health providers. Heroin has quickly evolved into an emergent barrier to employment, housing, and safe and happy home environments.
The Dane County District Attorney’s Office has run an incredibly effective Opiate Deferred Prosecution Program. To date, a dedicated position funded by grant dollars has worked with dozens of individuals on aggressive rehabilitation, based on accountability, in lieu of prosecution. To be eligible, people agree to comply with a rigorous drug testing program that requires them to check in daily. They meet with the program’s counselor weekly and have multiple assignments to complete. My budget doubles this effort in 2017, adding a second full time counselor to focus on the growing number of individuals with opiate addictions.
I am also teaming with the District Attorney to work toward development of a rapid intake unit to improve efficiencies within the criminal justice system. This is another area where misplaced priorities within our state government are hurting local governments. In the interest of public safety and effectively administered criminal justice systems, the state of Wisconsin needs to fund prosecutors for District Attorneys. Caseloads are different today than they were in the 1980s and this need is reaching a critical mass both here in Dane County and across Wisconsin. Fewer prosecutors mean delayed accountability for perpetrators and prolonged pain for victims. DA Ozanne’s rapid intake unit will help triage incoming cases more effectively and efficiently, placing a priority on getting more people into available diversion and treatment programs. Of further help, the budget I’m introducing expands the reach of Dane County’s Restorative Court beyond the pilot area on the south side of Madison, making it available to individuals countywide.
At the request of the Sheriff, I am adding positions to assist with the upcoming necessary life and safety improvements needed for the jail space in the upper floors of the City County Building. These incremental improvements are needed while policymakers and the community continue the homework necessary to determine how to best improve mental health services and inmate housing for the coming decades.
This budget also adds four new half-time employees in the Dane County 911 Center to continue the incredible progress we’ve made at answering emergency calls faster and getting help on the way quicker. I’m also creating a new support position for Dane County Emergency Management to aid the work it does coordinating emergency preparedness and response.
Our Department of Emergency Management also maintains equipment integral to helping coordinate regional responses to critical incidents. One of them is a large incident command vehicle that we’ve cooperated with local fire departments over the course of more than a decade to help house. The Dane County Library System faces similar unique space needs to most effectively use the new “Dode Lowe Bookmobile,” named for a former friend, county board supervisor and labor champion who represented the east side of Madison.
That’s why I think it’s appropriate the county acquire the former Blooming Grove Fire Department, Town Hall, and maintenance garage. My budget includes the capital funding necessary to purchase those facilities, in partnership with the Town. The former fire department has space to house the offices and equipment for the Dane County Library System and Emergency Management’s Command Vehicle. We will lease the town hall back to the Town of Blooming Grove for a period of12 years and the Town will continue to provide snow removal and mowing at the property to keep our operating expenses in check. Working together with another local unit of government we can improve public safety response and make sure our central library service has the space it needs.
Alliant Energy Center
Much has been said in the past year about what the future holds for the Alliant Energy Center. Before determining how the County can best maximize the potential for this property, it’s important we have an honest dialogue about the state of the campus. The Alliant Energy Center, just like the Monona Terrace, experienced significant reductions in revenue during the nation’s Great Recession a few years ago. The New Holland Pavilions we constructed are bringing new events, visitors, and revenue into our community that has never been here. The Dane County Veterans Memorial Coliseum is seeing more concerts and shows this year than in any of the past several years. National concert sales and marketing experts feel the Coliseum can generate significant income for the County and community with some targeted improvements – – no different than remodeling a home. The Alliant Energy Center is not losing money. It’s undeniable the Alliant Energy Center is booking more business and is back.
The latest evidence: Dane County’s Alliant Energy Center is about to become the new home of ESPN’s annual Crossfit Games, a nationally televised multi-day sporting event, that will bring hundreds of thousands in new revenue (and visitors) to the campus and community for each of the next three years. These games picked the AEC over facilities in large communities across the country.
We can even further improve the destination of the Alliant Energy Center, facilitate private development, and enhance economic development and tourism without spending $120-million in public money or spending millions to tear down a landmark facility that national concert promoters are willing to come and book business in – – at no charge to the county.
My budget proposes a new sales and marketing contract with SMG, one of the premier concert booking and promoting firms in the country. Structured similar to our sales and marketing contract with the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, but without the $240,000 upfront expenditure, SMG so believes in its ability to generate new revenue for the Coliseum it is willing to move to Madison and support its sales operation off anticipated earnings. In partnership with Madison-based Frank Productions, this agreement offers our next real opportunity to solidify the fiscal footing of the Alliant Energy Center. A single well promoted, attended concert can generate upward of $60,000 in net revenue for the AEC. In the past year alone, Mumford and Sons, 21 Pilots, and Def Leppard have been among the acts to bring their shows to the Coliseum. Ticket sales and earnings from these events show the AEC has real opportunity here.
Additionally, a study of the Coliseum commissioned by the County Board in 2014, recommended a series of incremental improvements to help the Coliseum and AEC maximize their earning potentials. My budget includes $1.4 million to replace the bathrooms in the Coliseum and $200,000 for painting. New carpeting, loading docks, and Wi-Fi are giving the facility a new feel for both event goers and organizers. The County’s commitment to these improvements had a direct correlation to the AEC’s ability to book more concerts in 2016.
Prior to the budget, I met with the consultants hired to begin this latest round of master planning at the Alliant Energy Center campus. We talked about the opportunities for the grounds and the role for potential privately financed development. I continue to believe not only in the potential for future growth, but view what evolves in the years ahead as enhancing strengths for facilities that are booked with a diverse offering of community events more days of the week now than ever before.
On the day of my meeting at the AEC, the Quilt Expo was just getting underway, an event that draws thousands of visitors each year. The 50th anniversary of World Dairy Expo is starting as I introduce this budget. There are very few places where quilting, cows, and national fitness competitions convene. We have a good thing going with the AEC and this budget provides $100,000 for the next phase of the visioning work that’s begun.
Local Foods
Our AEC is also the central gathering point for our county’s annual celebration of its vibrant agricultural industry. The Dane County Fair each July is a central gathering spot, linking people of all ages, from all walks with life, with the common bond of celebrating our incredible agricultural heritage. Our Fair is more than cows and a carnival however. It’s a showcase for the work of our next generation of artists, growers, moms, dads, engineers, and countless other eventual professions that begin somewhere in the fun, educational atmosphere fostered by 4-H throughout Dane County.
From Middleton to Stoughton, Marshall to Mount Horeb there are 43 4-H Community Clubs throughout Dane County, with 1,200 passionate, energetic young people guided by hundreds of adult volunteers. 900 of these future leaders entered a combined 11,000 exhibits at this year’s Dane County Fair. We need to continue to foster the ingenuity, creativity, and ingrained sense of community that groups like 4H promote for our future generations. That’s why I’m adding $74,000 to the UW-Extension budget to ensure our Dane County Fair can continue to thrive and be a place for those of all generations and communities to gather.
I am also creating a new grant program to help our UW-Extension Office partner with local communities and non-profits on starting up community gardens. There continues to be great interest in making healthy, locally grown food more available and accessible in our neighborhoods. These dollars can help take the vision of passionate neighbors and make them reality, helping to coordinate start-up gardens. In concert with Extension Director Carrie Edgar and her staff, the Dane County Food Council can help review potential projects for funding.
Future Challenges
There are a number of critical factors to watch in the coming year that will impact future county budgets. The state’s biennial budget process is underway. With state revenue collections underperforming expectations and a lively conversation ahead between the Governor and Legislature on how to fund gaps in state road finances, there is little reason to believe funding that supports counties and local governments will see any increase.
The state-mandated transition to Family Care is around the corner. The full financial impact of this will be known in the coming months. These details could change in the upcoming state budget but this transition will affect those who receive services and county finances. It will also impact county positions and we must maximize vacancies in the coming year to help those who provided care and service to some of our community’s most vulnerable through the years continue to have employment even after the state makes this change.
County and local governments will continue to be the funders of last resort as federal and state budget decisions reduce dollars going to non-profit agencies trying to meet social service needs. As we see in this year’s Dane County Human Services budget alone, the department had to re-purpose funds to make up for lost state and federal grants and revenue.
As noted in recent news accounts, local governments here are also providing homeless and other safety net services that are supported to a greater extent at the state level in other places. Local officials should continue to press Governor Walker and the legislature to join in efforts to reduce homelessness, better confront the scourge of opiate addiction, raise wages so families can better support themselves, and improve public safety by making sure county governments across Wisconsin have enough prosecutors to keep our communities safe.
As evidence by our green energy work, county government will continue to reinvent itself to reinvest in the economic security and quality of life of our communities.
Process
I look forward to working with the County Board of Supervisors in the weeks ahead in adopting our budget for 2017. My budget comes in more than $496,000 under the state imposed levy cap and increases taxes on the average Madison home by $19.61 or 2.5%.
Budgets are statements of priority. This “Investment for our Future” reflects vision and innovation, creativity and collaboration. Whether it’s cleaning our lakes quicker, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and our carbon footprint, coordinating services for the betterment of kids, seniors, and those most vulnerable, or confronting our challenges, this budget was crafted the “Dane County Way,” listening, learning and working together.
Honestly, I didn’t read it all, I only read the part that I cared most about . . . don’t fall for the propaganda, we’ll find out what it all really means in the committees. There’s always several surprises . . . can’t wait to hear what the Salvation Army is up to in this budget, the county descriptions of the Salvation Army’s new way of doing things starting November 1st leave lots of questions unanswered for something they’ve been working on for over a year but haven’t bothered to include anyone in on the planning.
