FISCAL NOTE
This resolution appropriates $70,000 from the general fund contingent reserve and transfers funding to the Water ($31,000), Sewer ($28,000), and Stormwater ($11,000) utilities to fund MadCAP, a comprehensive customer assistance program for the City’s municipal services bill, for the remainder of 2026. The resolution also updates the eligibility criteria to streamline program administration.
MadCAP was approved in the Madison Water Utility’s (MWU) 2022 rate case with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) on a 2-year trial basis. The program provides a credit of up to $20 or $30 per month to qualifying low-income households for the five City services on the municipal services bill (Water, Sewer, Stormwater, Urban Forestry, and Resource Recovery). The credit was funded through rate revenues for Water, Sewer, and Stormwater, and through the general fund for the Urban Forestry and Resource Recovery special charges.
The PSCW decided not to allow MWU to continue funding its portion of MadCAP from water rate revenues in its public hearing on the utility’s 2025 rate case. As a result, the City will also not be allowed to fund the Sewer or Stormwater portion of MadCAP. The PSCW ruling would disallow new applicants beginning around March 1, 2026, and around August 1, 2026 for existing participants. The appropriation proposed by the resolution would allow the City to continue accepting new applicants and funding existing participants for the remainder of the year.
Continuing MadCAP after 2026 would require approval of funding by the Council in future budgets. The estimated general fund cost in 2027 is $188,000. The impact on the tax levy for the average value home is estimated at $1.94.
TITLE
Amending the City’s 2026 adopted budget to appropriate $70,000 from the general fund contingent reserve to fund the Water Utility, Stormwater Utility, and Sewer Utility portions of MadCAP for the remainder of 2026.
BODY
WHEREAS, MadCAP is a comprehensi...
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