Fitchburg voters reject $3.6 million property tax referendum
A majority of Fitchburg residents voted against a $3.6 million property tax referendum on Tuesday that the city hoped to use to expand its police and fire departments and public transit system.
City leaders have said Fitchburg's rapid population growth is straining these and other essential services. They said a referendum was necessary because the allowable tax levy increase for 2025 — a number tied by state law to the amount of development that occurs within the city's limits each year — would let Fitchburg preserve existing services but would not be enough for it to accommodate the increasing demand for those services.
The Fitchburg community appeared unconvinced.
The referendum failed by six percentage points, with 8,388 people — 47% of the total — voting in favor and 9,455 voting against it, according to unofficial election results published by the county.
Fitchburg's population has climbed by a third in the past decade to over 30,000. It's the third-most-populous city in Dane County, after Madison and Sun Prairie. Leaders there say staffing has not kept up with Fitchburg's ongoing transition from a largely agricultural city to an increasingly urban one.
The Fitchburg City Council opted to put a referendum on the ballot this year amid concerns that stretching the same resources across more residents would result in less police availability, longer fire response times and extended waits for roads to be repaved.
The city intended to use the extra money to hire three police officers, a lieutenant and a sergeant, six firefighters and three additional city staff, operate the new police facility that is expected to open in a few years, pay for night and weekend service on two weekday-only Metro Transit bus routes, introduce paratransit and absorb other operating costs.
It also sought to boost starting wages for some city employees. Base pay for part-time firefighters in Fitchburg is $12 per hour, and the city wanted to use the added tax revenue to rely more on full-time firefighters, while raising the base pay of the remaining part-time firefighters to $15 per hour.
Mayor Julia Arata-Fratta has said previously that Fitchburg will still have to come up with the money to pay for some services, like operating its new police facility. She has not specified where that funding will come from.
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