K-12 Tax & $pending Climate: referendums and housing costs
As part of her answer, Pellebon said that “‘affordable housing’ is not affordable.” The audience of around 40 people erupted into applause.
The reaction at the Sept. 19 forum reflects just how expensive and inaccessible housing has become in Dane County, Wisconsin’s second-largest county. The county’s severe housing shortage has forced action from a state flagship university looking to house its ever-growing student population and challenged local employers hoping to grow their ranks. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway in 2023 called a lack of housing the “defining problem of our region right now.”
According to Dane County’s 2024-28 housing roadmap, one in four Dane County households are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their gross income to pay for housing. Renters are affected too: In 2022, Dane County’s median monthly rent, $1,258, was $266 dollars above the statewide average, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending increases via referendum this fall.
Madison taxpayers of long supported far above average K – 12 spending.
