Section NR 166.135 - Median household income The department shall determine the median household income of each applicant for the fiscal year from which financial assistance is requested based on all of the following instructions as applicable to the applicant:
(1) If the municipality is a place, as defined for purposes of data collection by the U.S. bureau of the census, including a city, village, or census designated place, or the municipality is a county or a minor civil division, the department shall obtain the most recent 5-year-data median household income figure published for the municipality by the U.S. bureau of the census prior to the department's publishing of the annual project priority list. Note: The department uses U.S. bureau of the census municipal incomes as derived from the American Community Survey and published annually in the 5-year survey data. At the time of writing of this administrative code, the U.S. bureau of the census is not collecting income data during the decennial census. The U.S. bureau of the census does not publish data for all types of municipalities eligible for SDWLP financial assistance.
(2) The department may require a municipality for which the U.S. bureau of the census does not publish median household income data to provide information to assist the department in determining a median household income for the municipality for purposes of this chapter. The information required and used by the department may include any of the following: (a) The number of residential users served by the municipality. (b) A map showing the municipal boundaries, and the number of residential users served by or the population of the municipality within each town or county for municipalities that cross town or county boundaries. (3) If the municipality is a town sanitary district or public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district, the municipality may supply a median household income provided by the U.S. bureau of the census, along with documentation of how the median household income was determined. Whether the median household income is initially determined by the department or supplied by the municipality for the department's approval, this median household income of the municipality shall be derived from the same ACS data release as that being used by the department for the fiscal year applicable to the funding cycle for which the application is submitted and shall be one of the following: (a) A median household income derived by requesting a custom tabulation from the bureau of the census of ACS income data at the census block level. Note: To obtain a custom tabulation, the municipality will likely need to compare a map showing the boundaries of the municipality to a census block map and determine which census blocks contain any portion of the municipality. The municipality would then submit the appropriate census block numbers to the U.S. bureau of the census (see https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/data/custom-tables.html) with a request for a custom tabulation of a median household income figure for that set of identified blocks only.
(b) The median household income of the census tract or block group that encompasses the municipality. If the municipality falls within 2 or more census tracts or block groups, the median household income shall be weighted by the population of the municipality that resides within each census tract or block group. (c) The median household income of the minor civil division within which the municipality is located. If the municipality falls within 2 or more minor civil divisions, the median household income shall be weighted by the population of the municipality that resides within each minor civil division. (d) An average median household income calculated by: determining the published median household income of each member municipality if the applicant municipality, such as a joint local water authority or sanitary district, is made up of multiple municipalities, such as cities, villages, and census designated places; weighting each of those median household incomes by the percentage that the population of the individual municipality is of the total population; summing the individual weighted median household incomes; and dividing the sum by the total number of municipalities that are members of the applicant municipality. NR 166.135(4) (4) If the service area of the water system within the boundaries of the municipality is different than the municipality's boundaries, the municipality may choose to follow the custom tabulation procedure as described under sub. (3) (a) and submit the result to the department to use in lieu of the median household income obtained by the department as described in sub. (1).Wis. Admin. Code Department of Natural Resources NR 166.135
Adopted by, CR 22-068: cr. Register October 2023 No. 814, eff. 11/1/2023