The Madison City Council voted Tuesday to approve the Madison Police Department’s rifle purchase program, as well as the downtown lighting initiative.

Under the rifle purchase program, MPD officers would have the option to purchase their own assault riles for use on duty, being funded through 52 equal deductions from their paychecks over the course of two years.

The program would allow for the officers to individually sight their own weapons, switching from the status quo of having all MPD rifles sighted at a uniform standard. The individually sighted rifles would offer the officers higher accuracy.

Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 9, thinks the notion of having officers own their own equipment is a good idea. However, he raised a concern about one aspect of the program: The officers would have to use their own money for the weapons and not the city’s funding. Skidmore suggested it was a better idea for the city to purchase the weapons themselves in the capital budget.

“I think we are setting a bad precedent here to have individuals buying their own tools to do the job they need to do,” Skidmore said.

MPD Capt. Vic Wahl said the department has requested capital budget money for the weapons in previous budgets.

Wahl also addressed some practical issues with the program, such as the insurance and maintenance logistics.

He said cleaning and sighting the weapons would occur in on-duty training sessions, and the city’s insurance policy would cover any damage if it occurred on duty.

MPD Chief Noble Wray said he is “very comfortable” with the program.

“Our goal in this is to provide a standard and proper protocol for handling, cleaning and safety [regarding the rifles],” Wray said.

The City Council also approved the Downtown Residential Exterior Lighting Enhancement Grant program, which provides a one-time matching grant to property owners looking to increase exterior lighting around their properties.

Former District 8 Ald. Eli Judge championed the program in 2009, accomplishing its addition to the budget.

Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, said the the lighting initiative was a unique program tying public and private interests as it relates to safety, targeting currently unlit porch ways, parking lots and alleys in the downtown community.

“We hope to use one tool to improve safety, which is improving lighting,” Eagon said, adding he encourages people to point to locations in the need of lighting to himself or their alder.

The City Council also voted to approve the city’s policies and funding for the annual Freakfest celebration, which this year will come from the city’s contingent reserve fund.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said reserve funds are used for the event because he does not want to budget for something he does not see as a permanent fixture in the budget; he said it is the goal to run Freakfest and break even financially.

Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway, District 12, said she would vote against the resolutions because she felt it was not proper to be using contingent reserve funds for an event the city knows is coming up every year; rather, the city should be budgeting for it.

“I don’t think this is the way we should be doing the funding,” Rhodes-Conway said.