The Madison Finance Committee on Monday backed the first part of the mayor’s plan for spending $47.2 million in federal COVID-19 relief on violence prevention, housing, homelessness, economic development and other community needs.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced Friday her proposal to spend American Rescue Plan Act funds by putting $22.8 million toward immediate, one-time costs and the remaining $24.4 million toward maintaining government services and balancing the city’s general fund budget.
The city has lost more than $44 million in revenue through 2020 and faces an $18 million budget shortfall for 2022.
The other $14.5 million for immediate needs would be allocated in the 2022 budget. A plan for how to spend the rest of the federal money on maintaining local government services will happen later this year, but Rhodes-Conway committed to including funding for restoring the budget for Monona Terrace and programs funded by revenue from the hotel room tax, which fell precipitously during the pandemic.
The Finance Committee unanimously recommended a resolution that would implement the first part of Rhodes-Conway’s plan by adding $8.3 million to the 2021 city budgets — $5 million to the operating budget and $3.3 million to the capital budget — for the urgent, one-time community investments.
