City Commission approves 2022 budget ordinance & increase in Madison Chamber request

The Madison City Commission has approved the second reading of an ordinance setting the city’s appropriations for 2022.  The ordinance shows total appropriations for the city for next year at just more than 31-point-four million dollars.

Before voting on the city’s 2022 budget ordinance on Monday, commissioners heard from Greater Madison Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Eric Hortness regarding a request for additional funding.  Hortness told commissioners that the decision to request another ten-thousand dollars in funding came about during a recently held Chamber Board of Directors’ Strategic Planning meeting.  He said it would increase their budget request from 85-to-95-thousand dollars for next year.  Hortness said one of the reasons for the request is the increase in the city’s sales tax revenue.

Hortness said that the Chamber is planning to launch a new Discover Madison app on December 1st, and talked about the success of some of the Chamber’s events, including Downtown in Madtown, the Burger Brawl, and the Facade Improvement Program.  He said that the city has also been awarded the bid for the State Amateur Basketball tournament again in 2023, 24, 26, and 27.  Hortness said the budget increase will help the Chamber continue to do the marketing for the city.

Commissioner Jeremiah Corbin said he “wasn’t a fan” of modifying the city’s budget at the time of second reading and didn’t want to set a precedent, but did vote in favor of adding the money to the Chamber’s budget.  Commissioner Kelly Dybdahl said he supported giving the Chamber the money as well.  Mayor Marshall Dennert asked that the vote on the second reading of the budget ordinance be delayed for a week.

Commissioners voted 4-to-1 to approve the second reading of the city’s budget ordinance, with Mayor Dennert voting against it.  They also voted 3-to-1 to approve amending the budget to include the additional ten-thousand dollars for the Chamber.  Mayor Dennert voted against it and Commissioner Adam Shaw abstained from that vote because he is a member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors.