Only 2 Madison alders had the courage to vote NO

against the $22 million City spending referendum!

We don’t play identity politics here at the Werkes, although we suspect that the Lovely Lisa may be of Polish extraction. Her last name has the letter Z in it, among a claymation army of consonants. Pronounced properly, as a Warsaw telephone operator once corrected us, her name sounds like a violent sneeze.

But the pool in which we swim here in Madison WI is hyper-sensitive to diversity (and the two other things). That gives us leave to notice that two of the most common-sense alders (out of a batch off 20) happen to be blessed with abundant melanin. We are talking about Alds. Isadore Knox and Barbara Harrington-McKinney. Treasure them, Madison! 

 It’s not free money!

Ike Knox and Barbara H-McK were the only two votes against putting the City of Madison’s $22 million property tax hike on the November 5 ballot. Here is Ald. Harrington-McKinney:

I am absolutely AGAINST, and will vote NO to any referendum that seeks to increase the levy or burden residents with additional property taxes. [To Mayor Satya] The primary reason for a NO vote on the referendum is that you have lost all credibility in being fiscally responsible in managing our money.

Echoing former mayor Paul Soglin (who always seems the equivalent of the UK’s shadow government), Ald. H-McK wonders why the City hasn’t lobbied Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, for some kind of assistance “years ago in preparation for this day.” The alder also indicts “lack of clarity” around funding the mayor’s pet project, bus rapid transit (BRT).  

Portraying grant monies from any governmental agency does not make it ‘free’ money. Capital assets require maintenance and repair (operating expenses) whether it’s a building, elevator, fire alarm/suppression system, bridge, road, bus, bus stop, bike path, etc. Any ‘net new’ asset drives maintenance as well as requiring funding (reserves) for future replacement.  

A $200 million grant will eventually require funding sufficient capital reserves, which will be a net new obligation for City and taxpayers. When ridership is falling this is a huge risk, and obligation, to citizens. What is the ridership model for the next 5 years, what happens if ridership declines, what are mitigation plans if BRT is under water?

→ “More than two of three UW-Madison students pay more for housing than they can afford.” (Read & Weep) You don’t think housing costs are related to property taxes?

 ‘Mind boggling’

Alds. Knox and Harrington-McKinney are stalwart supporters of our police department — which the mayor proposes to cut by $4,700,000 if the November 5 referendum fails. As such, they are rightly critical of the Independent Police Monitor and its Civilian Police Oversight Committee — those paeans to Woke grievance politics — from which the mayor would pare only $23,000. Again, Alder H-McK:

For the millions spent to date there is still NO actual process in place to run the program.  However, … this body is proposing that the City will actually pay up to $15,000 towards complainants attorney’s fees to — litigate against the City of Madison?  So, we are going to pay for both sets of attorneys in the same case? … No mention of a limit to the number of instances, whether the person wins/loses the case with prejudice? 

How does this make any rational sense to a taxpayer that we will pay for both the defense and prosecuting attorneys in the same case? The City is actually incentivizing court actions against itself? Mind boggling.  

Blaska’s Bottom Line goes to Alder H-McK: “If this is representative of what happens in other areas of our city government we have bigger problems than just the budget.” 

Well, Madisonians — DO WE?