The Madison Board of Estimates members approved amendments Monday night to the 2016 Capital Budget, including a new police station and retail improvement program.

The eight-hour meeting, which focused on the 2016 Capital Budget, approved all but one amendment to the budget. The most heated debate of the night, however, revolved around the proposed Midtown police station that saw tense words, especially between Madison Police Department Chief Mike Koval and Mayor Paul Soglin.

Koval made an impassioned speech in support of the station, which both he and his assistant chief see as essential to maintaining the level of safety the city has become accustomed to. He said he was irritated the city seems to be taking the police for granted and ignoring critical staff shortfalls.

“We can no longer continue to rearrange the chairs on the Titanic and pretend to feel good about it,” Koval said.

Soglin rebuffed the idea more police officers would correlate to a safer community, stating if he had an extra $6 million for the budget he would spend all of it on community centers. He said returns from these community investments would be far greater than returns in police investment.

Soglin said the operating costs incurred by the station would dramatically reduce resources the city could use to decrease poverty and improve equity.

Koval pointed to the many accolades Madison has received in the past decade and said they were only made possible by the resourcefulness of his department in dealing with a limited budget.

Soglin strongly advocated for the passage of a proposed comprehensive study on police staffing in Madison.

Koval responded by saying such a study would be  a massive waste of time, as every metric available pointed to police staffing falling behind the curve.

“I’ve given you the numbers, we’ve had thousands of studies,” Koval said. “I don’t know how many different ways you can carve this up.”

The exchanges between the two became increasingly heated with alders taking positions on either side until Ald. Chris Schmidt, District 11, said, “Let’s love each other.”

The amendment containing the police station was ultimately passed.

Other amendments

The council also approved a retail improvement program to help struggling retail on State Street. The program will match improvements to fixtures in buildings for retail uses. 

The only amendment to the budget that did not pass was a pilot program to increase internet access for low-income areas. The program was derided by some, such as Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, for being to expensive.

Clear said the program would be too expensive to ever successfully be implemented in all four of the proposed neighborhoods.

The proposal would have provided high speed fiber-optic cable to only two out of four proposed neighborhoods.

The City Council will be next to hear and make the final decision on the amendments.