Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz proposed his 2005 capital budget Tuesday, calling for nearly a $50 million loan to fund various projects, falling $30 million short from this year’s financial plan.
The capital budget is a long-term investment in structures, equipment and facilities funded by long-term borrowing, according to the mayor’s website.
In his plan, the mayor proposed borrowing $48.1 million to fund a number of projects to help reach his economic development goals for Madison. The goals of his budget focus on neighborhoods, public safety, economic development and parks and recreation, according to the press release.
“This capital budget was challenging and forced us to choose between many competing demands,” Cieslewicz said in his speech at the Wexford neighborhood on Madison’s west side. “I believe we’ve struck the right balance between funding needed city projects that improve our quality of life in Madison, while being cognizant of taxpayers’ limited resources.”
This year proved to be tough due to budget cuts and city financing, causing the capital budget to trim out $30 million of spending, according to Cieslewicz’s assistant Melanie Conklin.
“One of the biggest things in this budget is the economic development,” Conklin said. “Because there has [been] so much downtown growth, it really says something about the health of our city.”
Despite the downtown business growth, money from taxpayers had to be spread out through several projects for this year’s budget.
One-quarter of the general obligations within the capital budget are allocated into trying to encourage economic growth, the majority of which will go into Phase II of the State Street Design Project, work on East Washington Avenue and a mid-State Street parking ramp.
Approximately $10 million have been set aside for these projects.
“The mid-State Street parking ramp has been through committees and hearings for three decades after support from residents and merchants,” Conklin said.
The mayor believes a parking ramp will help keep the downtown area, specifically State Street, vibrant by bringing in tourism. With the opening of the Overture Center, new development on the University of Wisconsin campus, State Street redesign and downtown growth, a new parking ramp will be a new amenity, according to Conklin.
The mayor also plans to open five new parks and complete the Missing Link bike path in fall 2005. Another $500,000 will be set aside to help fund a municipal swimming pool after a generous donation of $2 million by the Goodman brothers.
“The mayor has been involved in several environmental movements,” Conklin said. “Parks are his passion because he believes they are an integral part of Madison.”
As stated in the budget, Cieslewicz plans on adding five new parks each year to the city.
Several neighborhoods will be focused on during the new budget proposal, such as the new Wexford Ridge neighborhood center and possible projects in the Allied Drive area.
The Wexford Community Education Center will receive $300,000 of funding in 2005 and 2006 to provide a model for growing partnerships in the area. Similarly, the Allied Drive area will be utilizing funding from tax-incremental financing to build the Allied Drive community center.
“We’ve spent a lot of time looking over the Wexford and Allied Drive areas because it is really important to have neighborhood centers to help develop them,” Conklin said.
A $2.4 million sum will also be allocated to a new automated recycling system and to provide bins for 62,000 households and new garbage trucks under the mayor’s budget. Beginning in 2005, the new trucks will collect from 600 households instead of the current trucks that collect from only 450 households.
The mayor proposed a continuing commitment to build a northeast as well as an east police district station. Another portion of this plan featured emergency medical services data computers to allow updating of patient records for paramedics.
