What do you get for $655?
County Board approves 2011 budget
Books balanced with no levy increase, no job cutsA study of staffing in the Sheriff’s Office, which was released earlier this year, recommended changes in the number and deployment of deputies. The County Board has begun to implement some of those recommendations with the 2011 budget, but avoided lay-offs of filled positions and continued to prioritize public safety throughout the county.County Board approves 2011 budget
Books balanced with no levy increase, no job cutsMonday evening the Dane County Board of Supervisors approved the almost half billion dollar 2011 county budget which features no lay-offs of county employees, no cuts in services for the developmentally disabled, and a million dollar increase in the county’s reserve fund.
“We weighed many priorities and developed a budget that is responsible in growing the county’s reserve fund while protecting our workforce and serving the most vulnerable members of the Dane County community,” said Supervisor Scott McDonell, Chair of the County Board. “We showed that, with hard work and innovative thinking, we can provide vital services and keep taxes low. Too many act like it is one or the other, but we have proven that it is not,” he added.
The general fund reserve serves as a cushion in difficult economic times and has taken a beating in the last year and a half. By budgeting an additional million dollars and being conservative in estimating revenue generated by the sales tax, the Board hopes to replenish the reserve in the coming year.
The County’s efforts to conserve land and protect water resources continue to generate considerable interest.
“The County Board has listened carefully to the people of Dane County as we debated changes to the County Executive’s proposed budget over the past six weeks,” said Supervisor John Hendrick, Vice-Chair of the County Board and member of the Personnel and Finance Committee. “For example, we heard loud support for increasing the conservation fund as well as funding the Lower Yahara River Trail, and that is reflected in the budget the Board approved.”
Although the County Board considered dozens of amendments throughout the last month and a half, the amount of the tax levy remains essentially unchanged from the proposed budget.
“I’m proud that the members of the Board worked together to keep the tax levy increase at 2.92%,” Chair McDonell noted. “We balanced the needs throughout county government while keeping the taxpayer firmly in mind,” he concluded.
The 2011 budget, as approved by the County Board, will result in an increase of $29.47 in county taxes on an average Madison home of $241,217. Taxes to support county government services, including the Sheriff’s Office and the jail, human services for children, the disabled, and the elderly, emergency radio interoperability, and county roads and bridges, will total about $655 for the average homeowner in 2011.
