The Madison Common Council will determine the 2006 budget this week, but with 55 amendments on the table, alders anticipate a long process that could take a few days.

The council will meet Tuesday to begin the approval process, and Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said city officials have already set aside time on Wednesday and Thursday to continue budget deliberations.

"We anticipate there to be tons of public speakers because the budget affects such a wide range of people," Verveer said. "On Tuesday, council can decide at 11:00 or midnight to continue discussion on Wednesday. On Wednesday, we would do the same thing if discussion drags."

Verveer said city officials have anticipated a council meeting reminiscent of the long discussions surrounding the smoking ban, and have changed the time of several other committee meetings to accommodate the anticipated budget discussions on Wednesday and Thursday.

Among the contentious amendments for council and citizens is Madison Metro funding.

Verveer said Metro will cut services if council does not change the 2006 budget's allowance for the public transportation provider.

"Unless council provides an additional $558,000 to what the mayor has proposed, Metro will eliminate some services," Verveer said. "This would affect many Madison residents as well as students. It is still unknown in what ways Metro would cut services though."

At a meeting with students last week, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said when he originally figured the budget, he had funded Metro adequately. However, an increase in the cost of gas has raised the monetary requirements of Metro.

"The problem with the Metro budget is that we're getting killed on fuel prices," Cieslewicz said. "The amendment likely won't even be enough. We're predicting we may need $800,000 more to keep Metro running at its current level."

Cieslewicz said the Metro fare increase in the summer had not brought in enough money to cover the increase in gas prices.

"We're exploring ways to deal with the hike of fuel costs," Cieslewicz said. "We are looking at using some electric hybrid buses in the future. But for now, we are going to have a lot of trouble funding Madison Metro adequately."

Other amendments include not funding the replacements for capitol bus shelters and not upgrading railroad crossings in the downtown. Approving these amendments would save the city $300,000 and $800,000 respectively.

As a downtown alder, Verveer said he would not like to see these amendments approved.

"Replacing the capitol bus shelters with the ones we have on State Street would improve the aesthetics of the downtown," he said. "And upgrading the railroad crossings would improve safety and lessen the number of accidents."

Also on the table is an amendment to eliminate funding for the mid-State Street parking ramp, amounting to an $11.5 million cut. Verveer said this decision would not save Madison citizens any money, however.

"The ramp would not be funded by taxpayer money anyway," he said. "The money for the ramp would come from city parking revenue."