Madison MMSD adopts 9.9% sewer charge increase for 2027
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wisconsin · Meeting date: October 22, 2026 · Published: October 23, 2026
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District has approved 2027 service-charge rates designed to raise $67.46 million, 9.9% more than budgeted for 2026. The rise supports a $71.53 million operating budget and major capital spending, despite calls from McFarland to restrain costs.
Key points
- Service-charge revenue is set at $67.46 million for 2027, up 9.9% from the 2026 budgeted level after the Commission cut the proposed increase from 12.02%.
- The approved 2027 budget authorizes $71.53 million of operating expenditure, $65.95 million of capital-project spending and $19.13 million of debt-service expenditure.
- The Commission adopted service-charge rates ranging from a 1.2% increase for phosphorus to a 22.7% increase for the actual-customer parameter.
- McFarland formally opposed the proposed rate increases, saying its projected 2027 MMSD charge would rise by $134,000, or 11.34%, from its estimated 2026 charge.
Full report
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District has approved a 9.9% increase in sewer service-charge revenue for 2027, setting rates intended to collect $67.46 million from its 24 customer communities.
The Commission unanimously adopted the operating, capital projects and debt-service budgets before approving the service-charge and septage-disposal rates at its 22 October meeting. The adopted service-charge requirement is lower than the 12.02% increase initially proposed: the Commission had directed staff on 8 October to revise the budget to a 9.9% increase.
The District’s 2027 operating budget authorizes $71.53 million in expenditures and transfers, including a $20.85 million transfer to debt service. It also authorizes $65.95 million in capital-project expenditure, with $37.91 million allocated to treatment-plant work and $22.20 million to interceptors. The six-year capital plan identifies $633.53 million in total project-cost authorisations, including a $108 million Liquid Processing Improvements Phase 2 project and $166.5 million for solids-processing facilities and digestion upgrades.
Service charges account for 96% of the District’s 2027 operating revenue, Finance Manager Ben Nerad told commissioners. Communities are billed quarterly according to wastewater volume; carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand; suspended solids; nitrogen; phosphorus; equivalent water meters; and customer numbers. Actual bills will depend on measured flows and loadings rather than the forecasts used to establish the rates.
The approved rates increase unevenly. The volume rate will rise 18.4% to $1,484.15762 per million gallons, while the actual-customer charge will rise 22.7% to $53.93685 per customer. The phosphorus rate will rise 1.2% to $7.32053 per pound, and the suspended-solids rate 1.7% to $0.42829 per pound. Nerad said the differing movements reflect both how the revenue requirement is allocated among billing parameters and changes in forecast flows and loadings.
The rate decision follows formal opposition from the Village of McFarland. In a 13 October resolution included with the District’s budget materials, the village said its 2027 MMSD charge was projected at $1.315 million, an increase of $134,000 or 11.34% on its estimated 2026 charge. McFarland called on the District to lower reserves, reassess capital needs and examine financing and connection-charge policies.
The Commission also adopted revised septage disposal charges. Grease-trap waste will rise 19% to $128.96 per 1,000 gallons and portable-toilet waste 8.6% to $143.63 per 1,000 gallons, while holding-tank waste will fall 15.3% to $6.79 per 1,000 gallons. The new service-charge rates take effect on 1 January 2027; septage rates will apply on that date or when Wisconsin’s 60-day notice requirement has been met, whichever is later.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: 10/22/2026 Commission Meeting (In Person), Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District