Budgets Are Moral Documents: Contact the Dane County Board

We can and must continue to push for the future we want.

The midterm elections are looming. People are tired, fearful, and emotionally and financially strapped. 

And yet we can and must continue to present a strong vision of the future we want for our community. To that end, we’re calling on our friends, partners, and allies to exert much-needed pressure on the Dane County budget this week. 

Dane County Executive Melissa Agard’s proposed 2027 county budget is now public and, over the course of the next two weeks, it will go to the Dane County board as a whole for debate, changes, and eventual approval. This is a crucial opportunity for lifting up the voices of those most vulnerable and making a passionate case for investing in resources that meet our community’s needs.

In years of surplus and in years of deficit, budgets are moral documents. We must remind the Dane County board that we will not let them balance their budget on the backs of those of us who are struggling.  

Please join us in contacting the Dane County board the week of October 26. 

Email county board supervisors with these key messages.

• Our unhoused neighbors and those struggling to find affordable housing should be a top priority. We want continued funding for housing navigation services, case management, shelter diversion programs, and crisis services. And we strongly support eliminating two vacant deputy positions in order to keep these services for our county. 

• We want money spent on surveillance – the $80,000 currently dedicated to automatic license plate readers - to be redirected toward community care and services. We know that safety begins with care, not with deeper investment in our own surveillance.

• We’re disappointed not to see a focus on expanding CARES in this budget. If we want to undo decades of damning statistics about our racist policing and incarceration, if we want to build a future in this community for everyone, we need the County to do its part in funding alternatives to policing and the status quo. 

Sample email draft. 

Send written comments on the budget to county_board_recipients@countyofdane.com and your supervisor. 

Dear —,

I’m reaching out today because I believe that budgets are moral documents and I want to see a county budget that reflects our community’s values and priorities.

I urge you to eliminate vacant deputy positions so that the County can do the bare minimum of keeping the lights on for housing navigation services, case management, shelter diversion programs, and crisis services. Our unhoused neighbors and those struggling to find affordable housing should be a top priority. 

I would also like to see the $80,000 currently dedicated to a surveillance program to be redirected toward community care and services. We cannot afford to neglect critical services in the name of investing more deeply in our own surveillance. 

And finally, though it’s not included in this year’s budget, I want to see the County do more to fund and expand alternatives to policing such as the CARES program. As a county, we are long overdue for robust investment in this area. 

Thank you for your time.

[Name]

[City, State]