Sun Prairie considers resident panel on budget shortfall

Sun Prairie officials are considering an ad hoc community task force to help address projected operating deficits in the city budget.

They discussed the prospect of the task force, proposed by Mayor Steve Stocker and City Council president Rex Owens, at the committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

Stocker, who presented the idea that evening, said that the task force’s work would include considerations for another referendum to raise property taxes along with cost cutting solutions.

“The purpose of this body is not to advocate for a predetermined answer. It’s to help the council make a better informed decision,” he said.

File photo: A "vote here" sign outside the Sun Prairie Municipal Building.

The proposal

Additionally, the city council would still hold the final say over which deficit reduction measures would be pursued.

“If the financial management plan is projecting structural shortfalls, the city cannot assume that the problem will resolve itself. Waiting does not eliminate the financial gap; it may simply leave the city with fewer options and less time to respond,” Stocker said.

While other alders appeared generally receptive to the proposal, some raised concerns about how the task force would go about its work.

Stocker and Owens proposed that the committee, which would be co-chaired by the pair, be made up of citizens appointed by the council.

Several alders voiced desires that the task force, if created, include a variety of citizens of different backgrounds to be fully representative of Sun Prairie as a whole.

Stocker told alders that he and Owens had a preliminary list of citizens they had not yet reached out to for participation, but were already considering. Some alders took issue with this.

“I am concerned about the makeup of that committee and how those individuals were selected. And when you say you're going to narrow it down, how are you going to narrow it down?...

We all represent different parts of the community and I would think that we would have the opportunity to to look at that list,” District 4 Alder Emily Comstock said.

Consequently, alders unanimously voted to amend the resolution creating the task force to include an application process for all citizens to volunteer themselves through.

Following the amendment, however, alders decided to postpone action to create the task force so that the questions raised could be answered beforehand.

“If we had waited a couple of weeks before acting on this, perhaps some of the questions that were asked and some of the structural items that members of the council were concerned about could have been addressed,” Comstock said.

As noted prior, several alders hammered home the point that they would like to see a truly diverse representation of Sun Prairie on the task force.

“I have been concerned about the demographics of who we select,” District 2 Alder Santiago Rosas said. “My experience has been that there have been little to no minorities in the committees that we have created.”

Readers may recall that during the referendum planning process, and at town halls after its failed vote, alders and citizens shared frustrations over not being able to bring residents to the table who weren’t already participating in city government.

Next steps

Alders Emily Comstock (left) and Bill Baker (right) listen to residents during a May, 2026 town hall after the city's operational referendum question failed at the polls.

District 1 Alder Casey Drengler shared a sentiment that seemed to sum up the way the rest of the council felt about the idea, but also the concerns they had with its makeup.

“I’m concerned about diversity. (We should) make sure we have a good cross section of citizens: race, gender, age, political views… I think that it’s important that it represents Sun Prairie,” he said. “But, overall I love this a lot more than having a consultant work on it.”

District 2 Alder Bill Baker also supported the idea. He was frank about wanting to avoid putting together a “feel good” committee to appease the public, and that the city should be candid about the rising cost of services and the limited ways to pay for them.

Baker said that it was likely the city would try to convince voters to pass another referendum in the future, but that its dollar amount and when it would appear on a ballot were up in the air.

Given the rising cost of nearly everything from health insurance premiums to materials, coupled with revenue restrictions via state levy limits, a referendum would be needed to continue city services at their current level.

The other option on the table are budget cuts, which would most likely mean significant staff reductions given wages and benefits’ proportion of the budget.

With this in mind, some questioned why the proposal appeared on that evening’s agenda as the “Ad-hoc Referendum Task Force” if it were to keep an open mind for the future.

Alders acknowledged the reality of this situation, but encouraged Owens and Stocker to ensure that the task force make a genuine effort to explore and communicate all of the options on the table.

“I applaud the concept. I like the idea of getting people together in the community to talk about what’s the best way to go,” Comstock said. “I shudder at the word, ‘referendum.’ I’m not comfortable with that at all.”