County’s Personnel and Finance Committee Recommends Amended Budget to County Board
November 01, 2023
County Board Supervisor Elizabeth Doyle, (608) 616-0698
County Board
Dane County’s Personnel and Finance Committee met last night to review and make a recommendation for the County Board on the 2024 Dane County Budget. At the meeting, the committee approved several amendments to the budget as proposed by County Executive Parisi.
Two amendments included in the recommendation from Personnel and Finance provide an increase in wages for Point of Service agencies, including an additional 2.5% Point of Service COLA increase, bringing the total to 7.0%, as well as an increase of $1.065 million to Journey Mental Health to allow wage increases among staff involved in the crisis response system.
Several amendments focused on addressing affordable housing in Dane County. Some of those amendments include:
• $1.35 million designated for St. Johns affordable housing project;
• Two new Case Manager positions to assist shelter guests with achieving housing and economic stability;
• One new Housing Program Specialist
• A $10 million increase to the Affordable Housing Development fund;
• A new capital housing fund of $8 million targeted for farmworker housing;
• A $217,500 increase for the Fair Chance Housing Fund that was created in 2023 to fund support services for persons with criminal record barriers in accessing housing;
• An increase of $68,000 in Public Health Madison Dane County to support amendments to contracts in 2024 of current Violence Prevention Unit 2023 grantees to support tenant capacity building. With these funds, community based organizations already serving vulnerable residential tenants experiencing a number of issues impacting their safety and stability (including unsafe housing conditions, housing discrimination, and other tenant and consumer protection violations) would have necessary resources to support tenant education and empowerment.
“As pandemic response funding winds down, it’s critical to expand affordable housing creation, provide sustainable funding for housing stability services, and prioritize people with significant housing barriers. So we’re increasing development funds, but we’re also enhancing tenant protections and building the collective power of tenants,” said County Board Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner (District 2), Chair of the Health and Human Needs Committee.
Additional amendments included:
• The addition of a bilingual Public Health Nurse to help eliminate the wait lists for Prenatal Care Coordination and Nurse Family Partnership Programs.
• A $50,000 increase for Public Health Madison Dane County to increase funding for the Saving Our Babies initiative, with funding provided to the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness.
“I’m proud to support the Saving our Babies initiative. This initiative works to turn the tide on inequities in Black maternal and child health in Dane County. It centers the voices of black women to shape resources and solutions in policy and practices and helps work towards closing the gap in birth outcomes. This critical funding will stress the importance of this work and demonstrates Dane County’s commitment of value and priority to the vital effort of eliminating inequities in our community,” said County Board Supervisor Holly Hatcher (District 26).
“The budget reflects the values of our community. We have heard from many members of our community about what needs exist and how the county can have the greatest impact. I’m proud of the work that has been done and continues to be done on this budget,” said County Board Supervisor Elizabeth Doyle (District 1), Chair of the Personnel and Finance Committee.
The County Board will have a hearing on the budget on Thursday, November 2 at 6:00pm to hear any final testimony from members of the public prior to budget deliberations that will begin on Monday, November 6 at 6:00pm.