Although Mayor Dave Cieslewicz spoke of Madison's fiscal issues at the first of three public budget hearings Wednesday at the Central Library, 201 W. Mifflin St., he devoted most of the evening to community members who came to defend against specific possible budget cuts.
Many of the speakers were former students of the Omega School, 835 W. Badger Road, a nonprofit learning institution that works to provide adult basic education, mostly to adults hoping to acquire their GED.
Jason, now a junior at UW-Whitewater, said he never would have made it there without the help of Oscar Mireles, the executive director of Omega.
With the help of him I have been helped tremendously '¦ Omega opened their hearts to me,"" he said.
Another graduate of the Omega School, Anthony Cooper, said he went from being a high-school dropout to a GED recipient to a college graduate.
Mireles stressed that though the school is run efficiently, it has a small staff and would be severely hurt by a big budget cut.
""If there is a time when we need more support, the time is now,"" he said. ""This cut is going to make things a lot more difficult.""
About a third of their budget, $96,000 out of their total $310,000, comes from the city.
Cieslewicz emphasized that the capital budget - which focuses on long-term investments in equipment and facilities funded by long-term borrowing, such as libraries and fire stations - is just getting underway. He said his decisions for the operating budget - which includes annual expenses to continue city services - have not yet been considered.
Cieslewicz also outlined six major challenges the City of Madison faces within the next year. His top three included a slow economy, an increase in debt service and a rise in health-care costs.
In the next year alone, the city will spend over $30 million on health insurance for city employees and see a decrease of $2,550 in the average home value, according to Cieslewicz's presentation.
The mayor said if current commitments are left untouched and no tax cuts are made, taxes on the average home would increase by 11.3 percent.
Because of this, many agencies that receive sizable amounts of funding from the city would face potential cuts.
To give some perspective, Cieslewicz said maintaining the increase in taxes on the average home at a 15-year average of 4.3 percent would require $11.6 million in cuts and a 56.2 percent cut across the board, including police and fire services.
The budget process is still in its early stages. Cieslewicz will hold two more public hearings - one on the East Side and one on the West - before introducing his capital budget Sept. 1. His operating budget will not be introduced until Oct. 6. The Common Council will then hold hearings throughout the following weeks, with final action occurring during the week of Nov. 9.
