'How' of more human services funds debated
Tax, referendum discussed

By Bill Novak
September 14, 2004

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If special interest groups want to pump up the county human services budget, they should take it to the people via a referendum, County Board Supervisor Brett Hulsey says.

Hulsey said a similar tactic was used six years ago when new money was needed for land acquisition. That referendum, to spend $30 million over 10 years to buy land for parks and conservation areas, was overwhelmingly approved.

A citizens group, Save Our Services-Dane, urged the County Board and County Executive Kathleen Falk Monday to consider a new tax of $20 per household over and above the pending budget of about $400 million.

A $20-per-household tax would raise about $3.6 million for the Human Services Department, the county's largest department, with a budget of $204 million for 2005.

Hulsey, speaking at the board's budget hearings Monday night, said he's not in favor of an outright tax increase, but would be more inclined to support a plan to raise money for a specific department if it came through as a referendum passed by the voters.

"The human services folks need to come up with a plan and a funding mechanism and ask the people to vote for it," Hulsey said.

Board Chair Kevin Kesterson, a supporter of SOS-Dane, said $20 a year is "a small price to pay" to allow Dane County to maintain the high level of human services the public has come to expect.

"Dane County people value their resources, and one of our best resources is our people," Kesterson said at an SOS-Dane press conference before Monday's board meeting. "Steady cuts in the human services budget have eroded our ability to help those most in need."

SOS-Dane pulled together two former local casino antagonists, attorney David Relles and human services activist Lisa Pugh, trying to rally the citizenry to help the human services budget.

Relles was the driving force behind No Dane Casino, the citizen group formed to defeat a February referendum that would have allowed the Ho-Chunk Nation to turn the DeJope bingo hall into a full-blown casino. Pugh was the spokesperson for the pro-casino group.

The people voted overwhelmingly against the casino.

If a casino had passed, the Ho-Chunk Nation had promised to give $7 million to Dane County, with some of the money going to human services programs.

Relles said that even if a casino was a bad idea, funding human services adequately is a good idea for all of us in Dane County.

"This community can afford to adequately fund human services," Relles said. "A year ago, the county executive said human services needed more money. The need is still there."

Pugh said banding together with Relles and local human services agencies shows the solidarity behind more funding for human services.

"We didn't agree on a whole heckuva lot," Pugh said of Relles during the casino campaign, "but now we're coming together to support Dane County human services."

Supervisor Beth Gross, chair of the Health and Human Needs Committee, said she thinks the public will support a $20 human services fee, but she's not sure if the full County Board will get behind the idea.

"We are just at the beginning of our budget process, so we really haven't had a chance to discuss this with the supervisors yet," Gross said. "But people understand just how severe the cuts were last year for human services, and additional cuts this year will compound the cuts made last year."

Hulsey said $20 doesn't sound like much, but it can add up, especially for senior citizens on limited incomes.

"There are a lot of seniors out there getting taxed right out of their homes," he said. "I know some of my constituents pay more in property tax payments than they pay in mortgage payments."

During budget hearings Monday night, there were no great surprises as 14 department heads presented their 2005 proposals to the board. Larger departments were required to trim their tax-levy-funded requests by 3.2 percent, and smaller departments were asked to cut 1.6 percent.

The board will hold its fourth and final preliminary budget hearing next Monday at 7 p.m. in Room 201 of the City-County Building.

Falk plans to hold her own 2005 budget public hearing Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Blooming Grove Village Hall.

She'll introduce the new budget Oct. 1. The board will deliberate on the budget for four to six weeks before voting on it in November.

E-mail: bnovak@madison.com

Published: 10:50 AM 9/14/04