Finance staff brief Madison council on budget, structural deficit and debt outlook

At its May 20, 2025 meeting, the Madison Common Council heard a detailed overview of the city’s operating and capital budgets from Christine Ko, Budget and Program Evaluation Manager, and Dave Schmidke, Finance Director.

The presentation explained that Madison’s budget is split into an operating budget (day-to-day services) and a capital budget (roads, buildings and other infrastructure). “The capital budget is primarily funded through borrowing,” Ko said, noting the capital budget includes a five‑year capital improvement plan. Schmidke summarized the city’s fiscal challenge: “the cost to maintain current service levels in the city goes up faster than we are allowed to increase our revenues.”

The finance team presented these headline figures for 2025: property tax is the largest single revenue source, comprising about 74% of the general fund or roughly $318,000,000; local revenues account for about $64,000,000; and intergovernmental revenues around $50,000,000. On the spending side, personnel costs are the largest category—about 62% of the budget, or $267,000,000—followed by debt service at roughly 16% or $71,000,000.

Schmidke said the city’s outstanding…