Madison's mayor says the city may be growing fast... but the amount of money the city spends doesn't have to. The city of Madison jumps into the 2005 budget season with a message of consistency.

Monday Mayor Dave Cieslewicz joined the heads of all 26 city agencies to begin developing Madison's 2006 Capital Budget. The Mayor says he's not anticipating any extraordinary projects to draw from the budget, .but will continue to invest in basic services, such as repairing and replacing garbage and police vehicles and making improvements to city parks.

The Mayor explains, while the city's rapid growth continues, his 2006 budget target of $55 million will not.

That $55 million is the cap, and I'll actually try to get that number below 55 million," says Cieslewicz. "But we're not gonna go above it because I do think we need to be responsible to taxpayers."

The Mayor also outlined his Imagine Madison initiative, which includes requests for two more swimming pools, A new central library, funded through both public and private support. Also on the list, street cars, funded through a combination of state, federal and city funds. 15 more neighborhood parks are also on that list.