Madison, Wisconsin
| Madison, Wisconsin | |
 | |
| General information | |
Mayor of Madison
Satya Rhodes-Conway | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2023 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2027 |
| Last city council election: | 2023 |
| Next city council election: | 2025 |
| City council seats: | 20 |
| City website | |
| Composition data (2019) | |
| Population: | 254,977 |
| Race: | White 78.6% African American 7.0% Asian 9.0% Native American 0.5% Pacific Islander 0.1% Two or more 3.5% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic 7.0% |
| Median household income: | $65,332 |
| High school graduation rate: | 95.5% |
| College graduation rate: | 57.9% |
| Related Madison offices | |
| Wisconsin Congressional Delegation Wisconsin State Legislature Wisconsin state executive offices | |
Madison is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin. The city's population was 269,840 as of 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Click on the links below to learn more about the city's...
- Mayor
- City council
- Other elected officials
- Elections
- Census information
- Budget
- Contact information
- Ballot measures
- County government
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of Madison utilizes a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.
Mayor
The mayor serves as the city's chief executive. The responsibilities of the mayor include proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national, and international levels.[1] The current Mayor of Madison is Satya Rhodes-Conway. Rhodes-Conway assumed office in 2019.
City council
The Madison City Council, which is more commonly known as the Common Council, is the city's primary legislative body. It is also responsible for approving and adopting the city budget.[2]
The city council is made up of 20 members, who go by the title of alders. Each alder is elected by one of Madison's 20 districts for two-year terms.[3]
The widget below automatically displays information about city council meetings. The topic list contains a sampling of keywords that Voterheads, a local government monitoring service, found in each meeting agenda. Click the meeting link to see more info and the full agenda:
Other elected officials
Ballotpedia does not cover any additional city officials in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mayoral partisanship
Madison has a Democratic mayor. As of September 2024, 63 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 25 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, four are independents, five identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Elections
2023
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held general elections for mayor and city council on April 4, 2023. A primary was scheduled for February 21, 2023, for the seats that had three or more candidates file to run. The filing deadline for this election was January 3, 2023.
2021
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held general elections for common council and municipal judge on April 6, 2021. A primary was scheduled for February 16, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was January 5, 2021.
2020
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held a special election for the district 8 alderperson on April 7, 2020. A primary was scheduled for February 18, 2020. The filing deadline for this election was January 7, 2020.
Incumbent Sally Rohrer did not file for the District 8 special election. She was appointed to the seat on November 5, 2019, to fill a vacancy.[4]
2019
2017
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held an election for common council on April 4, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was January 3, 2017.
All 20 common council seats were up for election in 2017. Incumbents ran for re-election in 19 of the 20 districts. They were unopposed in 15 of those races.
2015
The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held nonpartisan elections for mayor and city council on April 7, 2015. In races with more than two candidates, a primary took place on February 17, 2015. These included the races for mayor and Districts 1 and 14. The top two vote-getters in these races advanced to the general election. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was January 6, 2015. All 20 city council seats were up for election.
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for Madison | |
|---|---|
| Madison | |
| Population | 269,840 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 81 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 74.6% |
| Black/African American | 7.3% |
| Asian | 8.4% |
| Native American | 0.3% |
| Pacific Islander | 0% |
| Two or more | 7.8% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 7.8% |
| Bildung | |
| High school graduation rate | 95.5% |
| College graduation rate | 58.9% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $74,895 |
| Persons below poverty level | 6% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2017-2022). | |
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | |
Budget
The city's budget process operates on a fiscal year cycle from January 1 to December 31. The city charter gives responsibility for drafting a budget to the mayor. The mayor's draft of the budget is called the executive budget. Once completed, the mayor introduces the executive budget to the city council in October. The budget is then presented to the board of estimates, followed by a public hearing. Once the board of estimates has amended the budget, the city council has a chance to amend it. Another public hearing is then held in November to present the amendments to the public. The city council must then adopt the budget.[5]
Fiscally standardized cities data
The fiscally standardized cities (FiSC) data below was compiled by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to make municipal budgets comparable across cities in the United States.[6]
| " |
FiSCs are constructed by adding revenues and expenditures of each central city municipal government to a portion of the revenues and expenditures of overlying governments, including counties, independent school districts, and special districts. The allocations to FiSCs are estimates of the revenues collected from and services provided to central city residents and businesses by these overlying independent governments. Thus FiSCs provides a full picture of revenues raised from city residents and businesses and spending on their behalf, whether done by the city government or a separate overlying government.[7] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[8] | ||
The tables below show estimated finances within city limits. As such, the revenue and expenses listed may differ from the actual city budget.
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Historical total revenue and expenditure
To see the historical total revenue or expenditures as a rounded amount in this city, hover over the bars.[6]
Madison, Wisconsin, salaries and pensions over $95,000
Below is a map of the nationwide salaries and pensions in this city over $95,000. To search a different ZIP code, enter it in the search bar within the map.
Contact information
Mayor's office
210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 403
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608-266-4611
City Clerk's office
210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 103
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608-266-4601
Click here for city council contact information.
Ballot measures
- See also: Dane County, Wisconsin ballot measures
The city of Madison is in Dane County. A list of ballot measures in Dane County is available here.
Noteworthy events
2020: Events and activity following the death of George Floyd
During the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, demonstrations and protests took place in cities nationwide, including Madison, following the death of George Floyd. Events in Madison, Wisconsin began on Saturday, May 30, 2020, at the Wisconsin State Capitol. On May 31, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway (D) instituted a curfew.[9] Later that day, Gov. Tony Evers (D) confirmed that the Wisconsin National Guard would be deployed to the city following a request from interim police chief Vic Wahl.[10]
2015: Study on city's nondiscrimination laws
In July 2015, the Movement Advancement Project described Madison, Wisconsin, as a city or county that prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of gender identity via ordinances that apply to public and private employers. At that time, a total of 71 of America's largest 100 cities prohibited private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, while 69 of those cities also prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. This did not include those jurisdictions that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for government employees.[11]
Nondiscrimination laws can cover a variety of areas, including public employment, private employment, housing, and public accommodations. Such laws may be enacted at the state, county, or city level.
2015: Tony Robinson shooting
On the evening of March 6, 2015, a Madison police officer shot and killed an unarmed black 19-year-old named Tony Robinson. In accordance with Wisconsin state law, the state’s Department of Justice was responsible for investigating the incident.[12]
The shooting came in the wake of a larger national conversation about race, violence, and police in the United States as well as growing concerns about racial disparities within the city of Madison. In 2013, the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families released a report that detailed several key differences between the lives of black and white residents living in Dane County. The report found that African-American residents in Dane County were 5.5 times more likely to be unemployed than white residents. Similarly, black youths were six times more likely to be arrested than white youths.[13]
Mayor Paul Soglin commented on Robinson’s death and the larger issue of racial inequality in an article in the Wisconsin Gazette on March 9. He said, "We all deserve to know the facts in this case. Tony Robinson’s family deserves that, our community deserves that, and the Madison Police deserve that. When the answers come, we will be open and transparent in communicating them … The City of Madison, our police officers, our community, and I must and will keep moving forward with compassion, with understanding, with a commitment to facing the facts, finding the truth, and making necessary changes to ensure this great City is always more equitable and just."[14]
On March 27, state authorities leading the investigation turned their files over to District Attorney Ismael Ozanne.[15] Ozanne announced on May 12, 2015, that Officer Matt Kenny would not be charged with a crime.[16]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ City of Madison, "Office of the Mayor," accessed August 18, 2014
- ↑ City of Madison, "City Council," accessed September 22, 2014
- ↑ City of Madison, "Common Council: Members," accessed August 18, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin State Journal, "UW grad student Sally Rohrer appointed to open seat on Madison City Council," November 6, 2019
- ↑ City of Madison, "2022 Adopted Budget," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities," accessed August 23, 2023
- ↑ Wisconsin Public Radio, "Violence Erupts In Madison After Demonstrators Gather Across Wisconsin Demanding Justice For George Floyd," May 31, 2020
- ↑ NBC 15, "Wisconsin National Guard to assist Madison police with looting," May 31, 2020
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
- ↑ Vox, "No charges for the Wisconsin police officer who killed unarmed teen Tony Robinson," May 12, 2015
- ↑ Race to Equity, A Baseline Report on the State of Racial Disparities in Dane County, accessed October 2, 2013
- ↑ Madison.com, "Mayor Paul Soglin's statement on the Tony Robinson shooting," March 7, 2015
- ↑ Madison.com, "Tony Robinson shooting investigation will be turned over to district attorney on Friday," March 24, 2015
- ↑ BET, "No Charges for Officer Who Killed Tony Robinson Jr.," May 12, 2015
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