Says her former challenger, Gloria Reyes

When the likes of Zach Brandon, Dorothy Borchardt, and Paul Skidmore served as alders some 15-20 years ago, Madison WI city government had real budget hawks — watchdog types who could read a budget and find where the fat lay buried. The current cast of characters in city hall, it looks from here, equate larger dollar figures with greater social justice.

It is with profound gratitude, then, that last April’s mayoral challenger Gloria Reyes has cobbled together a critique of re-elected Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway’s proposed 2024 city budget. Reyes opens with this salvo:

“The city council will soon vote on this year’s budget. Mayor Satya claims it is “responsible” and blames state lawmakers for our city’s problems. Don’t be fooled. The mayor is trying to hide the truth — this budget shortchanges our community. Mayor Satya will try to mislead you with claims that don’t match the facts.”

Reyes is fronting an organization called “Madison’s P …P … Pro … Pro … zzz💣***☠️!!!👺 Path Forward …. (forgive the term but this IS Madison) (clears throat) “Madison’s Progressive Path Forward.” (Oddly, can find no website or social media presence for Madison’s P … Pro … Path Forward. But it does have a physical address, 821 E. Washington Ave.; a mailing address: Box 910, Madison WI 53703; and a phone: 608-292-9461.)

The Werkes ran Reyes’ numbers past former alderman Skidmore who, though a few years out of office, said they comport with his impressions, based also on his conversations with former mayor Paul Soglin. Herewith is Madison’s P … Pro … Path Forward analysis:

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Mayor Satya claims that this is a responsible operating budget. False.

The truth?

• She applied $16.7 million in one-time funds to the operating budget. It violates a cardinal rule of budgeting as set by the Government Finance Officers Association and the Government Accounting Standards Board.
• In her first five years, city spending is up 22%. In her predecessor’s first five years spending went up 16%
• For 2024 she is applying a fund balance of $9.2 million to the budget creating an even larger deficit for 2025.
• This budget (like her preceding budgets) is leading the city to a $75 million deficit to continue basic city services. In preceding years, instead of fixing it, she says “We are working on it.”
• The Mayor’s office budget is increasing by 29%, the biggest increase for any department except the Clerk (which has to administer the federal elections next year) and Madison Metro!

Mayor Satya says that this is the state’s fault — they are not increasing shared revenues. False.

The truth?

• The city of Madison just received $8.1 million in state shared revenues, an increase of over $3 million from last year, the largest increase in 30 years!
• The state did not object to her adding two new revenue sources: the regressive [wheel] tax which brought in $6,833,578 and the garbage tax which brought in $3,370,000.

Mayor Satya says that this is the state’s fault — they did not give us a sales tax. False.

The truth? The city failed to do what Milwaukee did: ask for a sales tax and get their friend Governor Evers to put it in his budget.

Mayor Satya claims that since we are a fast-growing city, we need new revenues to expand the city workforce. False.

The truth? While the city is growing in population, the staff does not always need expansion. For example, while more people are living in apartment buildings downtown, they do not require increased snow plowing, sewer workers, or staff for brush or yard waste collection.

Mayor Satya says that all city agencies are asked to reduce budgets by 1%. False.

The truth?

The Madison Metro budget is up 6% (25% from 2022). And that is why we are in so much trouble.

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Blaska’s Bottom Line: Damn, the former school board president’s P … Pro … Path Forward sounds almost conservative! Except for the part about asking for authority to levy a city sales tax, although the … Path Forward does not seem to be advocating for one, just pointing out the mayor’s supposed perfidy.

Do the numbers add up?