Each year, more than $63.5 million in Dane County funds go to support community based mental health treatment and services—a figure that has more than doubled over the past decade. An additional $865,000 will be added to my 2020 budget to further address mental health and addiction recovery in our community.

Too many times each year, families across our community experience the unrivaled pain of losing a loved one at the hands of mental illness or addiction. Earlier this year, a member of Dane County’s family lived this tragedy, when Emergency Management Director Charles Tubbs and his wife Cynthia lost their son, C.J. Tubbs. To honor his life, my 2020 budget creates the “C.J. Tubbs Fund for Hope, Healing and Recovery”—a new $500,000 county grant program designed to enhance community based mental health and addiction services.

My 2020 budget proposal also includes $80,000 to expand Safe Communities' “recovery coach” model into Drug Court deferred prosecution programs, and community organizations like the Outreach LGBT Community Center and those who work directly with African American, Latino, and Hmong populations. Dane County has funded the ED2Recovery program since its inception, and this latest investment brings the county’s total financial support of “recovery coach” efforts to $345,191.

My 2020 budget creates the new Division of Housing Access and Affordability within Dane County Human Services. This group will be run by a new Dane County Housing Coordinator funded in this budget, supported by a new full time affordable housing analyst, and teamed with existing county staff who already work on federal housing and development funds like the Community Development Block Grant Program and HOME.

Domestic violence is entirely unacceptable, but pervasive. The DAIS Help Line took 2,443 calls for help from victims seeking legal advocacy in 2018. These individuals support victims of domestic violence with safety planning and help navigate the legal system on everything from restraining orders to family and criminal court proceedings. $45,000 in this budget will go to support DAIS advocacy work.

I'm also expanding the incredibly effective Dane County Joining Forces for Families in the 2020 budget to two new areas. The JFF office expansions into Mazomanie and Marshall at a cost of more than $185,000 will allow existing staff to spend more time in other outlying communities. This change will double the JFF staff time in Stoughton starting next year. This budget also adds two new full time staff positions to JFF.

My 2020 budget creates a brand new sediment removal crew and purchases the equipment needed for the county to do its own hydraulic dredging. This ensures for years to come Dane County has the equipment and staff expertise in house to manage new work demands created by the new realities that pose unique challenges to a quickly growing area with diverse water resources.

$5 million in new county dollars is being included in this budget to purchase equipment needed for sediment removal work and the staff to carry out the job. This adds 4 new positions dedicated to the Yahara Chain of Lakes sediment removal work in the Land and Water Resources Department.

Dane County is on the verge of having over 95 vehicles, including dozens of previously diesel guzzling heavy trucks and plows, running on compressed natural gas. This budget includes $1.2 million to further the fueling infrastructure needed to support Dane County’s CNG fleet countywide.

My budget builds upon the county’s “green” fleet and adds infrastructure at county facilities to promote electric vehicle usage. I'm including $350,000 to purchase electric vehicle charging stations at 16 county sites: five county dog parks – (Prairie Moraine, Badger Prairie, Token Creek, Capital Springs, and Viking Parks) along with the Alliant Energy Center, Job Center, Badger Prairie Nursing Home, and other county office buildings. Electric cars for the county fleet will also be acquired, expanding Dane County’s focus on cleaner transportation sources.

The first phase of Suck the Muck is complete, extracting 75,000 pounds of phosphorus from one of the key waterways feeding the Yahara Lakes (Dorn Creek). The next chapter of Dane County’s work is just now getting underway in Token Creek where phosphorus soaked sludge is seven feet deep in some spots. It is estimated there are 20,000 tons (enough to fill 1,500 dump trucks) of muck over a one-mile stretch of Token Creek. Removing it will stop the ongoing seepage of phosphorus into Cherokee Marsh, Lake Mendota, and beyond. Next year’s work will focus on Six Mile Creek between Waunakee and Westport. My 2020 budget has $2.5 million for the next chapters of “Suck the Muck.”

$4 million is being included for the Dane County Conservation Fund to continue the pursuit of preserving land with clear quality of life, conservation, and recreational benefits. This need is even more apparent by the county’s continually increasing and competing land use pressures.

$130,000 is being added to replace the roof of the Heritage Center, allowing for the installation of solar panels there and $240,000 for a new forestry management truck to help clear downed trees and improve the county’s response to storm damage affecting our parks and trails.

This budget proposes $5 million for construction of a new Dane County Emergency Operations Center and home for the county’s Department of Emergency Management. Emergency Management is currently located in the Public Safety Building and will need to move as a result of the jail consolidation project. These funds will help secure a new long term home for one of Dane County’s most critical county assets.

The 2020 budget has $3.5 million at the request of the Sheriff for renovation work needed to establish a new southeast precinct in Stoughton and around $700,000 for the acquisition of 13 new SUVs for patrol deputies. County dollars are being added to the 911 Center budget to replace lost state revenue that supported a shift supervisor position. 911 pre-hire positions will also be reclassified to full time new communicators to help with scheduling flexibility and reduce overtime.

My budget adds $2 million to purchase four “tow plows” and heavy duty quad-axle trucks to pull them. Tow plows are a relatively new line of equipment that allows a single truck to clear two lanes of highway at the same time with a single pass. This will help Dane County’s ability to keep traffic moving on the Beltline and Interstate. Given more lane miles are added to the county system with projects like Highway M on the west side of Madison and Verona, $1.4 million is being included to buy 4 more tri-axle highway trucks (plows).