More than 200 rally to push for human services funding ?
By Bill Novak
September 24, 2004
Human
services advocates pushed for better funding of the county's largest department
Thursday night at a rally that overtook the front steps of the City-County
Building downtown. More than 200 people, many toting signs calling
for a $20 property tax hike, rallied under the SOS Dane banner to listen
to a slew of speakers pushing for more money so the 159 agencies providing
social services to Dane County residents can maintain service to their clients. "In
a time of growth in Dane County, there's no excuse for not adequately funding
human services," said Lisa Pugh, one of the lead organizers for Save Our
Services (SOS) Dane and former spokeswoman for the Ho-Chunk Nation's failed
casino push in Madison. The group says $20 a year added to property
tax bills in Dane County would provide the necessary funding to maintain
current service levels.
The Human Services Department has a proposed $204 million budget for 2005 in an expected $400 million county budget. County
Executive Kathleen Falk has not gotten on the $20 bandwagon. Assistant Sharyn
Wisniewski told The Capital Times the department is getting plenty in the
2005 budget even if SOS Dane doesn't feel the funding is adequate. "There's
$2 million more in the 2005 budget than in 2004 for the developmentally disabled,"
Wisniewski said. "Kathleen has also reinstated the $80,000 cut in the vocational
training budget." Falk has used human services as a cornerstone of her political career and conscience since becoming county executive in 1997. What
would be the reasoning behind Falk balking at pumping up the human services
budget? It's got to be political, said SOS Dane's David Relles, the former
head of the anti-casino movement in Madison. "The casino money (about
$3.6 million for the county if the casino referendum had passed) was to provide
for much needed human services," Relles said. "The casino didn't pass, but
do the much-needed human services still exist? I think they do." Retired
UW Professor Mary Ann Test said it's election time for Falk next spring,
and proposing higher taxes can be a hard thing to do for anyone up for re-election. "Are
people afraid if they are in favor of more taxes they might not get elected?"
Test asked. "It's the only thing I can think of. Falk is a compassionate
person, so I don't understand why she wouldn't be supporting the tax increase
unless it's for political reasons." County Board Supervisor Beth Gross,
chairwoman of the board's Health and Human Needs Committee, said the bottom
line is to restore as much funding as possible for human services programs. "We
will fight as hard as we can to preserve the services," she said. "We hope
to do it in collaboration with the county executive." Falk will introduce her 2005 budget a week from today. E-mail: bnovak@madison.com
Published: 10:29 AM 9/24/04
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