Freepik
An orange road construction cone.
Madison residents could see additional service charges for traffic improvements and street repairs as Madison debates how to confront its $22 million operating budget deficit. The city plans to raise $10 million through the charges in 2025 if its budget referendum on the November ballot fails.
A special charge is billed monthly to property owners and directly covers costs for a municipal service. The charge cannot exceed the service’s cost.
The traffic engineering charge would cover services provided by the city’s traffic engineering department, including such things as striping roadways, maintaining traffic and pedestrian crossing lights, says David Schmiedicke, the city’s finance director. The street repair charge would cover charges for “minor repairs” to city streets, like filling potholes. Dylan Brogan, city communications manager, tells Isthmus that the proposals would be introduced as part of the city’s 2025 budget package by Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.
Madison currently has two major special charges, says Schmiedicke: an urban forestry charge of $7.12 a month on residential properties, which supports Madison’s urban forest preservation efforts, and a recycling special charge, which amounts to $3.95 a month and applies to properties that receive recycling collection from the city. The fees are added to residents’ monthly utility bill.
Municipalities cannot tailor the cost of a special charge by property tax or income, so it is a less progressive tax than the property tax, says Schmiedicke. To lessen the impact, Madison offers the Madison Customer Assistance Program, which provides low-income households up to a $30 credit on their monthly municipal services bills.
Madison’s finance department works with the division benefiting from the charge, alongside the city attorney, to craft the special charge language, Schmiedicke says. To institute the charge, council members must pass an ordinance and the city must prepare a report detailing the charge’s purpose.
If the referendum fails, the city will need to raise $10 million through special charges — which would include the new charges — by 2025. If it passes, the city won’t need to introduce new special charge language, but will need to add $10 million in special charge revenue starting in 2027. Both totals will ramp up annually: without a referendum, the city will need to raise $33 million through special charges in 2030, and with a referendum, $25 million. Brogan says those totals are guidelines and could change with additional cuts or revenue sources.
