Finance Committee approves TID amendments after public objection over operating cuts

Council President Madison and the Finance Committee adopted a package of tax incremental district (TID) project-plan amendments on June 29, 2026, despite a public registrant’s plea that the measures prolong districts whose value could otherwise flow back to the general fund.

Bonnie Row, a registerd speaker from District 11, addressed the committee during the public-comment period and urged members to place on file or hold two amendments: file 93406 (TID 44 amendment) and file 93412 (TID 46 amendment). Row said the proposed amendments would allow the city to borrow and spend roughly $11.9 million across the affected TIDs and argued that prolonging TID 44 — which she said holds about $114 million in incremental taxable value — would deny that value’s return to the general tax base and worsen the city’s operating shortfall. “If this district were allowed to move toward its natural dissolution, that 114 million would flow directly back onto the general tax rolls,” Row said, and she urged the committee to prioritize protecting basic city operations over capital expansions.

Matt Gloeski, the city’s Economic Development Director, then briefed the committee on the proposed package. He said the amendment to TID 44 adds $6.5 million to the project plan, including about $4 million for acquisition of the Royster Corners properties plus stormwater work and small-business assistance. TID 46 amendments total about $6.4 million for sanitary sewer, park and stormwater improvements and small-business supports. Gloeski summarized additional changes across other districts: a modest $285,000 amendment to the State Street TID (TID 50) for sanitary sewer; a change to TID 51 to make $25 million available for housing development in the South Park Street corridor (targeting the Park Badger project); and proposed new TIDs (TID 56 and TID 57) with placeholders for public-works and development-loan funding.

Alder questions focused on program details and the budget implications of extending TIDs. Gloeski clarified that small-business assistance across the package includes façade grants, building-improvement grants and commercial ownership assistance. Director Schmidiki answered an explicit budget mechanics question: closing a TID does not immediately convert its total incremental value into unrestricted city cash. He explained that only half of the incremental value is factored into the city’s levy-limit calculation, and because Madison’s taxable base is large, the effect on the city’s levy capacity for TID 44 would be relatively small — roughly $200,000 in the example discussed. Schmidiki also noted that any surplus when a TID closes is distributed proportionally among taxing jurisdictions (city, county, schools, etc.), so the city would not receive 100% of that flow.

The committee proceeded by unanimous consent to adopt the amendments for items 9 through 15 after the briefing and Q&A. The adopted package includes the TID 44 and TID 46 amendments discussed at the hearing. No substantive amendments or holds were placed at the committee; the public commenter’s request to hold the items was not acted upon.

The committee’s action leaves intact the administration’s stated aim of using TIF resources to support both development and public-infrastructure needs while staff and council members continue to debate how those choices intersect with operating-budget pressures.

What’s next: The amendments adopted by the Finance Committee will move forward per the usual approval path in Madison’s process; any related capital work and property acquisitions described in the project plans will proceed subject to future implementation steps and funding authorizations.