I’m Sabrina Madison, proud founder of the Progress Center for Black Women and alder for District 17 on the Madison Common Council. Before I held either of those titles, I raised my son as a struggling single mom, experienced homelessness, and benefited from local food pantries. My work has always centered around lifting up our communities, whether it’s through empowering Black women entrepreneurs or advocating for equity and opportunity as a city leader. As someone deeply committed to building a more inclusive, thriving Madison, I’ve seen firsthand how critical city services — especially those that support working families, low-income neighborhoods, and communities of color — are to ensure everyone has a chance to succeed.
This November 5th, voters in Madison will have some important decisions to make, and one of the most critical is the City of Madison’s Municipal Funding Referendum. I want to share with you why this referendum matters and why our Madison Common Council, including myself, voted to put it on the ballot.
Madison is growing — and fast. In the last decade, our population has jumped by 19%, but the number of city workers providing essential services, from police and fire to ambulance services, hasn’t kept up. In fact, we now have 10% fewer city workers per capita than we did 10 years ago. We’re being asked to do more with less, and it’s taking a toll.
Right now, Madison faces a $22 million operating budget deficit. This budget covers the salaries, benefits, and rising healthcare costs for the 3,000 employees who keep our city running — garbage truck drivers, poll workers, public health nurses, and so many more. It also funds programs that help our community thrive, like employment training, after-school programs, and crisis intervention services.
So how did we get here? It’s a long story that started back in 2012 under former governer Scott Walker’s administration. The state’s funding formula was redesigned to put cities like Madison at a disadvantage. We now receive the lowest level of state aid in Wisconsin. If we got just the average amount that other cities receive, we’d have an additional $54 million each year — more than enough to avoid this referendum.
This referendum would cost the average homeowner about $230 a year, or roughly $19 a month. Without it, we’d be looking at major service cuts starting in 2025 — cuts that will touch every corner of our city, from the sanitation workers keeping our neighborhoods clean to the librarians and crisis response teams who provide critical support.
Madison isn’t alone in dealing with this problem. Cities like Fitchburg, Monona, and even Sun Prairie are either going to referendum this year or expect to in the near future. All seven area mayors recently came together to call on the state Legislature, which is sitting on a $3 billion surplus, to fix this broken system.
One thing I want to clear up — Bus Rapid Transit is not to blame for this budget shortfall. Madison Metro’s operating budget has remained essentially the same since 2014 when adjusted for inflation. And let’s be real, the Biden-Harris administration deserves credit for the electric buses and the funding for the bus stations.
This referendum is absolutely necessary to keep Madison running smoothly. That’s why it has the support of the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times. So on November 5th, vote YES to support the city services we all rely on!
