Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and members of the Madison Common Council announce the 2013 process for soliciting input from the public for next year's city budget. City leaders expect that this year's budget process will involve many difficult choices, as have budgets of the last few years. The mayor and council hope that feedback and input from residents will help to guide them in making those decisions.

This year citizens are invited to participate in an online idea collaboration using IdeaScale, a tool which has been used by other governments around the country. Participants can suggest new ideas and vote on the ideas entered by others.

"We are asking for everyone's ideas and votes (http://madison.ideascale.com/) to help develop the themes of this year's community budget conversations," said Mayor Soglin. "I am really pleased that the ideas generated online will feed directly into our community meetings."

The community budget conversations (http://www.cityofmadison.com/budget/) will be held in May at four locations around the city. Each meeting has specific themes (see below). Ideas from the online collaboration will be used to develop the agenda for the community meetings. This process will help city officials and staff create a budget that reflects the values and priorities of Madison's residents.

There are four sessions and residents are invited to attend as many as they wish.

Work / Invent & Create
May 9th, 2013 at 7pm
Madison Senior Center

Get Around / Build Opportunity for All
May 15th, 2013 at 7pm
Packers Community Center Room

Be Healthy & Safe / Live
May 23rd, 2013 at 7pm
Jefferson Middle School

Eat / Play & Enjoy
May 29th, 2013 at 7pm
The Villager Atrium Community Room