Priorities for Dane County

Nino Amato has sounded the alarm on Dane County fiscal crisis that calls for experienced and qualified leadership. Working families and our aging population in west Madison and Middleton are dealing with rising property taxes and rents, a strained mental health system, growing concerns about the quality of our drinking water and public safety issues.

These challenges are all connected and complex, and they require more than campaign slogans or business as usual and insider politics.

Nino Amato is the only candidate who has managed multi-million- and billion-dollar budgets – and turning public policy challenges into practical solutions.

Taxes, Fiscal Responsibility & Financial Transparency in Budgeting

Dane County is still facing a projected thirty-one-million-dollar structural budget deficit, and the Dane County Board is dismissing the financial burden of increasing taxes and increasing service fees on residents, and is wrongfully shifting the financial burden onto homeowners, renters, and small businesses.

Nino Amato has firsthand fiscal management experience in dealing with financial structural budget deficits, having served on the UW System Board of Regents, the UW Hospital & Clinic Authority Board, and as president of the Wisconsin Technical College System Board. Not only is Nino financially astute in asking tough questions, but he also demanded financial transparency and uncovered waste and inefficiencies, which transformed the budgeting process, with fiscally responsible outcomes and decisions.

As your Dane County Supervisor, Nino Amato will focus on improving government accountability to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent cost-effectively, responsibly, and with public transparency.

Nino Amato brings firsthand experience in eliminating duplication of services between the City of Madison and Dane County when he co-chaired the City-County Task Force on the Unification of Madison’s and Dane County’s Public Health Departments. Not only did that successful unification lead to improved public health services, it also reduced costs, improved public health outcomes, and prepared Dane County in dealing with the 2021 COVID-19 Pandemic.

Mental Health, Addiction & Public Safety

Mental health and addiction services are public safety issues, and recent county decisions have made it clear how much leadership and oversight matter. In January of this year, Dane County failed to renew its long-time partnership with Tellurian Behavioral Health, resulting in the loss of critical emergency detox services.

Not only did that not save taxpayers money, but it also shifted behavioral health costs to emergency rooms, law enforcement, and the jail system, and forced individuals in crisis to be transported by law enforcement, eighty miles north of Madison, for care.

Nino Amato immediately called on Dane County’s elected leadership for an interim extension of the Tellurian contract and for an independent third-party review of Dane County Human Services to examine fiscal management, contract oversight, and leadership decision-making.

If elected to the County Board, Nino Amato will work to restore mental health and addiction services, improve accountability within county departments, and ensure taxpayer dollars are used cost-effectively in ways that protect both public safety and human dignity.

Environmental Stewardship & Clean Drinking Water

Protecting our environment has been central to Nino Amato’s decades of environmental management, which directly affects the public health of our citizens and the economic sustainability of our communities.

As your Dane County Supervisor, Nino Amato will prioritize:

Protecting and improving the quality of our drinking water from PFAS, Micro-plastics and other toxic contaminants,

Initiate environmental and economic sustainable programs and a county-wide collaboration, which will focus on creating entry-level, high-paying green jobs for families and individuals.

Collaborate with the City of Madison to unify Dane County Health & Human Services Programs and Services for our homeless population and for residents in need of mental health and addiction services.

Promote environmental and financial stewardship in county government, which will deliver cost-effective county services, programs, and resilient public infrastructure, including but not limited to public transportation, land-use, stormwater management, increase county park lands, and protect the Ice-Age trails and greenways.

Collaborate with all Dane County cities, villages, and townships, to address current and future housing affordability, public transportation, public health emergencies, residential and multi-family developments.

Listening to What Matters Most to You

While fiscal responsibility, mental health, and environmental protection are Nino Amato’s top priorities, he will hold regular public neighborhood and district meetings to listen to residents’ concerns and to provide Nino with feedback on issues that matter to residents of District 15.

Nino Amato has a long history of listening to people whose voices are often overlooked or ignored and turning their concerns into a meaningful voice on the Dane County Board. You can always reach out to him with questions or ideas at ajninoamato2021@gmail.com