Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway proposed the City of Madison 2020 Operating Budget of $340.4 million Tuesday afternoon.

The operating budget provides money for running city departments and services and the daily spending on employees, materials and supplies, according to the City of Madison website. 

Rhodes-Conway made youth outreach a focus of the budget because she said she learned community members desire more youth programs during the mayoral campaign.

Rhodes-Conway spoke to this point in the filmed discussion of the 2020 operating budget.

“It is crucial that when our young people look to us we are there to meet them and to create the type of space they need to thrive and be successful,” Rhodes-Conway said.

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Rhodes-Conway said she is proud to improve Madison for youths despite the tight budget year. In 2020, Madison will fund a Teen Programming Specialist at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center and a Teen Librarian at the Goodman South Library to improve youth outreach.

Supervisor of the Goodman South Library Ching Wong expressed excitement to improve teen experiences at the library. The library recently renovated their teen reading space, and they’re adding a teen librarian to that space.

“We are thrilled to hear we are getting a much needed teen librarian to contribute to our commitment to engage and connect with teens,” Wong said in the filmed discussion.

To account for youth outreach acquiring a bigger portion of the budget, the city needed to cut funds elsewhere. Rhodes-Conway asked each agency to give three scenarios for their services in order to determine whether their funding levels should change or stay the same. These scenarios described what would happen if the agency’s budget increased, decreased or stayed the same. 

Rhodes-Conway cut the largest amount from Public Works & Transportation and Direct Appropriations and Capital. 

Rhodes-Conway didn’t change funding for the Madison Police Department, whose chief Mike Koval retired Sunday in part because of inadequate staffing (which would require more funding to remedy).

At the press conference, Rhodes-Conway expressed a desire to implement a “wheel tax,” or a vehicle registration tax to help fund her MetroForward bus rapid transit plan. It would be $40 per registration, starting in the first three months of next year.

“I assure you that with our dedicated city staff and council, we will continue to take on these challenges directly to ensure we’re working together to best meet the needs of our residents,” Rhodes-Conway said in the operating Budget.