MADISON — The Madison Common Council has approved a new budget for the city that will increase property taxes on the average home by about $79 a year.
The budget passed the Common Council just after midnight. Mayor Paul Soglin said he will sign it Wednesday.
The deal calls for a property tax increase of just under three and a half percent, which means taxes on the average home in Madison will be $2,336.
One of the items in the budget is a $14 million public market for Madison’s east side that would be built in 2019.
But council members made sure the city will have to secure about $10 million in private funding before that happens.
Soglin said he’d talked with Gov. Scott Walker twice about the public market following the closing of the Oscar Mayer plant on the east side.
They both believe it could create an agriculture hub and hundreds of jobs for Madison.
Some council members are concerned the market won’t be able to serve the whole city.
Another controversial component to the project is that it would move the city garage that fixes vehicles earlier than projected, spending an additional $21 million before it had originally been budgeted.
The council also set aside about $35 million to help with future Judge Doyle Square development after Exact Sciences decided to back out of the project.
