From the local finance department, Gale Pifer reports that the City of Madison is spending less money this year than last:
Despite increases in water, sewer and electric bills this year, the city of Madison's 2013 operating budget is actually lower than a year ago. The current city budget is $19.1 million, down $284,225.
...According to Finance Commissioner Scott Delzer, Madison is in "pretty decent shape, compared to some other towns in the state, although it seems like we never have enough money to do all the things that need to be done" [Gale Pifer, "City Finances 'in Decent Shape," Madison Daily Leader, 2013.07.03].
One of those things for which Commissioner Delzer and his colleagues can't find enough money is street repairs, for which they passed and then, in the face of a legally petitioned referendum, illegally rescinded a special maintenance fee. That extra dollar-per-frontage-foot assessment would have brought in $386,000 a year for road work in Madison. Mayor Roy Lindsay's proposed Plan B, a special maintenance fee with a capped fee formula, would bring in $270,000 annually... which is less than the amount that the city lowered its current operating budget from the previous year.
Permit me to oversimplify: instead of creating a new tax, why not just crank up existing taxes and fees to the levels that Madison residents apparently bore in 2012?