The Dane County Board of Supervisors approved the 2010 operating and capital budgets Monday night, retaining just fewer than 3 percent budget cuts for human services and county employees’ wages.
The passage of the capital budget was approved with little discussion; yet, the passage of the operating budget came after more than two hours of debate.
One major issue supervisors and citizens had problems with was the 2.83 percent reduction of funds for human services.
More than 20 people gathered for a small vigil before the meeting in protest of the cuts, where community leaders addressed the crowd, asking them to support reversing the cuts by signing petitions they would deliver to the board.
Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers Marc Herstand argued that cutting this money could end up costing the county more money in the long-run.
“If you get a young person off the streets into a youth resource center, … you can avoid a much more expensive treatment for an alcohol or drug dependency,” Herstand said. “You can also avoid all the human and societal costs if that person ended up in the juvenile justice system.”
Supervisor Kyle Richmond, District 27, introduced an amendment that would restore funding to the human services budget, as well as reverse pay cuts for county employees and bolster the general fund reserve.
Richmond proposed the money come from a $15 vehicle registration fee, which, according to Richmond, would bring in an estimated $4.5 million for the county.
“It makes sense to charge the people who use the roads for the roads,” Richmond said.
Supervisor Mike Willett, District 32, said the county should try to find a solution that involves cutting costs instead of raising fees.
The vehicle registration fee was eventually voted down and Richmond withdrew the remainder of his amendment, saying that without funding, he knew he would not have the votes.
Supervisor Barbara Vedder, District 2, who worked with Richmond on the human services portion of the amendment, asked the board to still consider voting to restore the human services budget.
According to Vedder, restoring the funds for human services would only cost about $8 per household in property taxes, and the people benefiting from the funding would have no other way of getting these funds.
“There’s no safety net this year. There’s nothing there,” Vedder said.
Richmond’s amendment — which ultimately failed — also reversed the proposed pay cuts for all county employees. One of the most vocal opponents of the pay cuts was the Dane County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.
Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said he did not think the Sheriff’s Office would be able to provide the county with the same amount and quality of service without the funds.
According to Dane County Administrator Travis Myren, if the Sheriff’s Office will not voluntarily accept the pay cuts in contract negotiations, there will have to be layoffs within the department.
