2021 City and County Budget Priorities
Progressive Dane: 2021 City and County Budget Priorities
With the 2021 budget processes underway for both city and county government, Progressive Dane membership would like to see the following changes prioritized through spending allocation. Below each priority are the relevant Progressive Dane platform provisions.
1. Moving non-law enforcement functions out of law enforcement and re-allocating resources away from law enforcement and incarceration to community-based human services.
Funding to Implement CAHOOTS/STAR/Mental Health Ambulance (City lead, possible joint funding for operations).
Capital funding for planning, site acquisition and construction of Behavioral Health Triage and Restoration Center (County lead, possible joint operations). Redirect jail construction funds.
Eliminate Ferris/Huber and transfer work release program to Dane County Humans Services (County)
Move Crossing Guard from MPD to Traffic-Engineering (City)
Implement one or options from PSRC for reducing MPD Operating Budget
Relevant Progressive Dane Platform Provisions
Transitioning funding away from law enforcement and towards community development, early childhood education, and human services, thereby ensuring that police are performing policing duties while other professionals are hired to do social work, mental health and other services. (CITY)
Treating drug-related issues as a public health, rather than a law-enforcement, concern. (CITY)
Treat alcohol and drug addiction as a health issue, not a criminal issue. (COUNTY)
Develop one or more culturally relevant community-based crisis, assessment and resource centers and/or programs focused on supporting individuals in the community and diverting individuals with mental health, substance abuse or developmental disability issues from being booked and admitted to the jail. Such a center/program should include the capacity to: (COUNTY)
Serve as jail diversion by accepting and safely managing referrals of individuals taken into custody by law enforcement who believe (or based on prior contacts know) the individual has mental health issues;
Assess and address the immediate mental health needs(s) of the individual referred by law enforcement or at subsequent points of the justice/custody process and link the individual with ongoing support services;
House individuals for a time period as determined by medical or health professionals; and
Serve as a non-crisis resource center for individuals and families seeking assistance in dealing with mental health issues.
Prioritize services that use harm reduction and trauma-informed care. (COUNTY)
Expand access to treatment for opiate addictions, including methadone, in the community, residential treatment facilities, and the Dane County jail and expand access to overdose reversal drugs like Narcan/naloxone. (COUNTY)
Review all diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs to meet our goals of reducing or eliminating racial disparities, reduce the number of persons incarcerated, and mitigate collateral consequences of criminal justice system involvement. Fully fund and implement best practice diversion and preventive programs that address the root causes of crime and juvenile delinquency, while respecting civil rights and individual liberties. (COUNTY)
Develop a decarceration plan, informed by the communities most impacted by incarceration, to reduce the average daily population of the jail by 350 persons, and construct 350 permanent supportive housing units in the community for persons previously incarcerated by December 31, 2025. (COUNTY)
Prioritize Human Services funding and program development for the most vulnerable residents and eliminate service barriers for persons without a permanent address. (COUNTY)
The police must operate within the standards our community sets. (CITY)
Effective formal community control and oversight of the police. (CITY)
Ending the criminalization of poverty and homelessness. (CITY)
Rejecting funding that increases random stops and road checks that increase police contacts and opportunities for increasing our disparity rates. (CITY)
Oppose all policies that criminalize poverty and homelessness. (COUNTY)
2. Preparing for the COVID-Relief Cliff on 12/31/20 -- Short and Longer Term Responses to our Housing Crisis.
The City and County must work together to ensure no one sleeps outside this Winter. Make public facilities like the Monona Terrace and Alliant Energy Center available for safe sheltering and sanitation and allocate capital funds for the purchase of hotels and operating funds for the staffing of additional shelters.
Fund Universal Representation in Eviction Court: Every residential tenant facing eviction should have access to a free lawyer. Currently, there is a federal order halting evictions against tenants who sign a CDC declaration swearing to certain facts, but some tenants don’t know about it and/or don’t know how to enforce their rights under the new Order. Additionally, the Order does not cancel rent or provide rent assistance. It expires at the end of this year and a tsunami of evictions is expected in January. Madison currently provides $170,000 for eviction defense legal services ($145K in GPR and $25K in HUD-ESG funds), which funds 2 FTEs (1 attorney and 1 paralegal. Dane County, using HUD CDBG, funds $45K for eviction defense, which funds less than 1 FTE.
Support landbanking with a community land trust model as an affordable and sustainable permanent housing creation strategy.
Prioritize City and County 2021 Affordable Housing Development Funds for Housing Persons on Coordinated Entry List.
Redirect Jail Appropriations for supportive and recovery housing.
Relevant Platform Provisions
WE BELIEVE that housing is a human right. The City should ensure high-quality, safe, fair, accessible, and affordable housing for all. (CITY)
Adequate shelter space for homeless individuals and families. (CITY)
Ensure sufficient shelter space and a comprehensive day center that is available to all who need those resources. (COUNTY)
24-7 access to facilities providing basic needs to homeless individuals and families. (CITY)
Support 24/7 access to restrooms and storage for individuals without a home. (COUNTY)
The development of additional affordable/low-income and accessible housing throughout the City, including the construction of new City housing, particularly in high-opportunity areas accessible to transportation, jobs, and food. (CITY)
Making long-term housing available to people without homes of their own, including making vacant public property available for housing the homeless. (CITY)
Explore alternative revenue sources to fund essential county services. (COUNTY)
Implement Housing as a Human Right initiatives to realize that right for all Dane county residents. (COUNTY)
Support community land trust programs, an affordable housing trust fund, single room occupancy housing, transitional housing services, the Affordable Housing Development Fund and cooperative housing to further enhance housing options throughout Dane County. (COUNTY)
Prioritize vacant public property for housing the homeless. (COUNTY)
Support efforts of the Zero Initiative campaign to eliminate veteran, chronic and family homelessness. (COUNTY)
Develop a housing plan to address the housing gap identified in the Dane County Housing Needs Assessment. (COUNTY).
The right to publicly funded legal representation for residential tenants facing eviction or termination of subsidized housing. (CITY)
Support the right to publicly funded legal representation for residential tenants facing eviction or termination of subsidized housing (a.k.a. right to counsel). (COUNTY)
Support community-based programs that educate renters about their legal rights and assist them in defending those rights. (COUNTY)
3. Implementing TFOGS (Task Force on Government Structure) Recommendation(s)
Creating City Office of Resident Engagement (City)
Relevant Platform Provisions (City)
Expanding opportunities to offer informed and timely public input to all public officials.
Efforts to enhance the ability of all residents to fully participate in City boards, committees, and commissions.
Adopting an inclusive, transparent participatory budgeting process whereby the residents of Madison directly determine a portion of the City’s annual budgets.
Community education, government television, and other community media, which are vital to an open and democratic government and should be publicly supported when necessary.
Making budget information more transparent, timely, and understandable for members of the public, including information about agencies funded through the Community Development Division, and allowing more time to consider alder amendments.