How to Get Involved in the County Budget

This one is far more complicated than attending the Finance Committee and City Council meeting in November . . .

The county has great materials here for understanding their budget process.  But committee are meeting to discuss amendments that are not yet out!  They have meetings at various committees for the next three weeks. These committees meet tomorrow but the amendments are not available this morning – they will likely become available later today?

WAYS TO PARTICIPATE

Please note, that if you want to speak, you need to register at least 30 minutes before the meeting starts.

Their website lays out the ways to participate as

1. Attend a committee meeting. Meetings dates and locations are listed below. All committee hearings will be available virtually. For the most up-to-date meeting information and to connect virtually, click here. You can also sign up to receive agendas automatically as they are posted. Instructions for signing up are available in this video here. .

2. Attend one of the County Board Budget Hearings. Meetings dates and locations are listed below. All budget hearings will be available virtually. For the most up-to-date meeting information and to connect virtually, click here.

3. Contact your County Board Supervisor. Not sure who represents you? Use this tool to find your supervisor and get in touch directly.

4. Email all County Board Supervisors. You can send a message to the full County Board by emailing: County_Board_Recipients@danecounty.gov

COMMITTEE SCHEDULE

The way the county works is quite different, they have standing committees that oversee each of the departments.  The committees are made up of only supervisors and supervisors who are versed in the areas of the committee they sit on make amendment proposals to the committtee and when they are done with their process, all the amendments that passed are presented to the Personnel & Finance Committee who takes a look at all the amendments and presents a balanced budget to the County Board for a final vote.

These are all the committee hearings coming up – starting tomorrow

Here’s the alphabet soup the county loves so much!

HEARINGS BEFORE THE COUNTY BOARD

Here’s the hearing before the full county board.  The most effective meeting to show up to is the October 20th meeting because supervisors can still make amendments before the committees finish their work.

LISTINGS OF BUDGET AMENDMENTS

Hopefully later today we will see the amendments for HHN, Exec and PP&J (And there’s the alphabet soup!  Health and Human Needs, Executive Committee, Public Protection and Judiciary Committee). The county is different from the city in that they consider the capital and operating budgets in the same process.