As the long and rancorous election season comes to a close, we are in the midst of the county budget process. Fortunately, at the local level there is much more civility.

As the chair of the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee, I am working on numerous amendments to continue to reform our criminal justice system.

Three circuit court judges came to me with a new initiative where local courts would have the option to order community service as a sanction. Currently, their options are ordering probation, jail time or a fine. Wisconsin law provides this option if we have a community service coordinator.

I believe doing productive work in the community would help to turn around lives and reduce recidivism. Other amendments include expanding our court mentor process to help make sure persons in the court system make required appearances. We also propose additional resources in the form of a new social worker for the community restorative court that diverts persons 17 to 25 years old totally out of the traditional criminal justice system.

My local initiatives are recommendations from the Diversion Work Group I appointed last spring that completed its work in August. In many ways what we are doing here in Dane County is consistent with the national reform movement. In addition to local dollars, we are fortunate that national grant dollars are being received as all parts of the system struggle with changes based on best practices and outcomes-based measurements.

The budget also includes additional efforts to clean up our lakes, respond to homelessness and protect our most vulnerable populations, especially children and the elderly. With state-mandated levy limits, you are likely to see only a modest increase in the county portion of your property tax bill.

Supervisor Rusk can be reached at 249-9667 or rusk@countyofdane.com.