Dane County Board Adopts 2027 Budget

November 04, 2026
CountyBoardPress@danecounty.gov, (608) 228-9053
County Board

Spending plan expands affordable housing investments and reduces cuts to critical human services while holding the county tax levy at levels proposed by the county executive

DANE COUNTY, Wis. — Following weeks of public testimony, committee review, and extensive collaboration, the Dane County Board of Supervisors tonight approved the 2027 county budget. The budget now advances to County Executive Melissa Agard for her consideration and signature.

 The adopted budget carries $861,125,920 in operating expenditures and $94,132,450 in capital spending. Supervisors set the county’s property tax levy at $283.2 million, the same figure County Executive Agard put forward in her executive budget proposal. The board’s amendments to the executive proposal, known collectively as Sub 1, cleared the Personnel and Finance Committee on a unanimous vote Oct. 29.

 “What we adopted tonight reflects months of work and a lot of hard conversations,” said County Board Chair Patrick Miles. “We looked at what this community needs most right now and we put our dollars there, without increasing the county’s tax levy more than what was proposed in the county executive’s budget proposal. I want to thank County Executive Agard, our department heads, and every supervisor who gave ground to get us here.”

 Housing and shelter represent the budget’s largest area of investment, totaling $29.35 million in the capital budget. That includes $26.5 million for affordable housing development: $20 million for the county’s Affordable Housing Development Fund, $4 million to replenish the Fair Chance Housing Fund, which helps house people with criminal records and histories of homelessness, and $2.5 million for projects outside the federal low-income housing tax credit program. The budget also provides $2.1 million toward a Salvation Army facility that will serve as a family shelter, and $750,000 for land improvements at a permanent site where people can legally sleep and camp. Supervisors added $7.25 million of that total through their amendments.

The board also directed $1.1 million toward relocating the county’s Veterans Services Office out of leased space and into a county-owned facility, a move expected to reduce operating costs in future budgets.

Within the operating budget, supervisors restored approximately $422,000 for human services, the majority of it for housing case management and lifesaving overflow shelter capacity heading into winter, and redirected $70,000 within an existing contract to protect mental health crisis services. Each increase was offset by savings or reductions identified elsewhere in the budget.

“In all my years in county government, this was one of the most challenging budgets I have worked on,” said Supervisor Chuck Erickson, chair of the Personnel and Finance Committee. “Not because the choices were unclear, but because there were more good uses for every dollar than there were dollars. This board worked together and delivered a budget that meets the moment.”

Elsewhere in the capital budget, the county will invest $10 million through the Dane County Conservation Fund to protect land and water resources, fund county highway and bridge projects, park improvements, and upgrades at the Henry Vilas Zoo. It requires no property tax levy, drawing instead on borrowing and outside revenue.

The board also revised language governing the sheriff’s $2.965 million body-worn camera program. The amendment asks the Dane County Sheriff’s Office to post its draft policy for at least 30 days of public comment and to address retention schedules, secure storage and audit logs, limits on facial recognition and biometric tools, limits on data sharing with third parties including federal immigration authorities, access for complainants and defense counsel, and an annual public report. The resolution is advisory and affirms that the sheriff’s office's existing draft policy already addresses many of the board’s priorities.

“Clear policy on the use, retention, and release of body-worn camera footage benefits the public and the deputies who will wear these cameras,” said Supervisor Keith Furman, chair of the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee. “The sheriff’s office has worked with the board in good faith, and its draft policy already reflects many of these standards. A public comment period will strengthen it further.”

Miles concluded that the pressures driving this year’s challenging budgeting decisions extend well beyond the county.

“No county can carry this burden alone,” he said. “State aid has not kept pace with the cost of services the state requires us to provide, and federal grants to local governments and nonprofits are shrinking while the burden on residents who rely on them grows. We will keep making these choices locally. But the strain on this community’s safety net is not something Dane County created, and it is not something we can solve by ourselves. We need real partnership from our state and federal governments, and increased investment from the philanthropic community and the private sector.”

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