Dane County Executive Melissa Agard announced plans to institute a hiring freeze on non-essential vacancies and cut spending in her first Executive Budget on Oct. 1. The budget totals $903.6 million — a 3% decrease from 2025.
The budget aims to close a $31 million structural deficit caused by increased costs and declining or flat revenues, according to a statement from Agard. The budget includes an operating budget of $825.1 million and a capital budget of $78.5 million, a 30% decrease from the previous year.
“Certainly, this is not the budget that I dreamed of putting together as I was a candidate… thinking about $31 million worth of cuts,” Agard told The Daily Cardinal. “At the end of the day, it’s about delivering high quality services to people in Dane County and ensuring that people can be very proud of their government at a time when there’s a lot of skepticism about government.”…