Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway released the City of Madison’s 2026 executive operating budget Tuesday, highlighting a 4.6%, or $20 million, spending increase from last year.
The $452.5 million budget funds salaries, community-based organizations and supplies and equipment including “police, fire, emergency medical services, library and park programs, garbage and recycling collection, snow and ice removal and more,” according to the budget overview.
The largest items include $1.7 million for the Bartillon homeless shelter and $320,000 in staffing for the new Imagination Center library. The budget also includes a tax rate increase of 2.7%, or $30 annually for average Madison homeowners — the lowest tax rate increase in 40 years…