Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway released her 2023 Executive Capital Budget and Capital Improvement Plan Tuesday, detailing the city’s plan for capital investments.
The $368.4 million budget focuses on investing in affordable housing, building a city resilient to climate change and creating strong neighborhoods.
In an effort to create more affordable housing opportunities in the city, Rhodes-Conway is allocating $60 million to housing over six years, according to the The Cap Times.
“While we use policy to encourage the creation of more housing, the city needs to focus our funding on housing affordability so that those who work in Madison can afford to live in Madison,” Rhodes-Conway said during a press conference Tuesday.
Further, a $21 million homeless shelter will be built in 2024 with funding from both the county and the federal government, according to the plan.
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Transportation is responsible for 40% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the plan. To address this, the budget includes $23 million in federal funding to ensure the 46-bus fleet is fully electric and an additional $2.5 million investment in electric vehicle charging equipment, according to the Cap Times.
Additionally, the budget puts $350,000 toward planning for a long-awaited Amtrak service in Madison, the Cap Times reported.
The budget also invests $22.2 million into flood mitigation efforts, the City of Madison website said. The city has significantly upped efforts in flood prevention since widespread flooding devastated the city in 2018.
“Since the 2018 flood, the city has rapidly advanced major flood mitigation projects on key streets and drainage areas,” Rhodes-Conway said during the press conference. “City engineers are carefully studying every watershed in the city to understand where and why flooding happens.”
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The 2023 budget presumes $68.8 million in federal funding, largely thanks to new funding opportunities brought on by The Biden Administration. But, not all of the federal funding has been secured, as some applications are still pending, the plan said.
Some projects may not be able to proceed without federal funding, including the North-South Bus Rapid Transit route, finance director for the City of Madison David Schmiedicke said in an email to The Badger Herald.
“Other projects may have to proceed on a smaller scale or longer timeline,” Schmiedicke said.
The $23 million grant to purchase a fully electric bus fleet and the $2 million in federal funding for the new homeless shelter have already been secured, the plan said. But, funding for other projects like the railroad crossing safety improvements have not been secured yet due to the competitiveness of the grants.
Projects which have not secured funding were included in the budget to allow the City to act quickly in the event the applications are successful, the plan said.
