Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and members of the Madison City Council are advancing legislation to reduce utility bills for low-income families in Madison.
The proposed legislation would fund and expand access to the Madison Customer Assistance Program to save residents up to $30 each month on their municipal services bill.
“Working families are struggling to afford to live in Madison. One way we can help is to reduce the cost of household bills,” Mayor Rhodes-Conway said in a statement. “MadCAP eases the burden on folks who are struggling financially and helps keep them in their homes. All of Madison benefits when we keep our city accessible to folks with a wide range of incomes.”
MadCAP started in 2023 and provides a credit to households earning 50% or less of the Area Median Income who receive a municipal bill.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin recently ruled that MadCAP can no longer be funded through utility rates.
Rhodes-Conway and council members Tag Evers, Yannette Figueroa Cole, MGR Govindarajan, Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford and Sean O’Brien introduced a resolution to shift the funding for the program to non-utility sources.
According to the statement, the annual cost to the average homeowner in Madison to fund MadCAP is less than $1 in 2026 and is expected to be around $2 per year in 2027.
If approved, the resolution will also simplify the eligibility requirements.
The proposed changes include:
-
Adopting a single qualifying income threshold instead of two separate tiers
-
Making enrollment in the city’s water conservation program a post-enrollment follow up measure rather than a prerequisite
-
Simplifying enrollment by allowing applicants to show proof they are enrolled in another program with equal or lower income eligibility standards. This includes the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC) and Wisconsin FoodShare or SNAP benefits, depending on family size.
Advertisement
This proposal will be reviewed by the City Finance Committee on March 2, and by the Common Council on March 10.
