Brighton council hears 2025–26 budget presentation; proposes small water and sewer rate increases

Director Liz Gaines delivered the City of Brighton’s proposed 2025–26 budget and fee schedule at the April 8 City Council meeting, outlining revenue projections, planned capital spending and a small increase to utility rates.

Gaines told council the city is projecting roughly $600,000 more in revenue than was originally budgeted for the current year, driven primarily by $375,000 in higher-than-expected interest income, $88,000 in additional property tax receipts and $50,000 in personal property tax reimbursement from the state. “On the revenue side, we’re projecting, like, $600,000 to the good, over what we budgeted,” Gaines said.

The proposed general-fund budget for 2025–26 would keep the city’s fund balance above city policy: Gaines reported the adopted fund-balance target of 15 percent and said the city is on track to finish this fiscal year with an assigned and unassigned fund balance near 40 percent of next year’s expenditures (the budget presentation used a 37 percent adopted baseline and projected closer to 40 percent at year-end).

Why it matters: the budget frames the city’s near-term decisions on street work, capital reserves, staffing and long-term liabilities such as pension and other post-employment benefits (OPEB). Gaines told council Brighton continues to fund pensions above the actuarily determined contribution and is increasing prefunding for OPEB so future retiree health premiums can be paid from assets rather than annual operating revenues.

Key proposed changes and numbers

- Utility rates: the city is proposing a modest rise in commodity rates. Water would increase from $7.06 to $7.20 per 1,000 gallons; sewer from $8.31 to $8.73 per 1,000 gallons. An administrative fee would rise by 14¢ per two-month billing cycle (about 7¢ per month). Gaines presented example bill impacts: for a two-month cycle using 6,000 gallons, the increase would be about $3.50 (2.8%); for 8,000 gallons, about $4.62 (3.0%); for 10,000 gallons, about $5.74 (3.1%).

- Capital and utility reserves: the water fund has about $600,000 of proposed capital spending (including Pine Creek tank work), while the wastewater fund carried about $1.4 million budgeted for capital projects in the proposal. Utility reserves were reported at roughly $696,000 and projected to grow to about $840,000.

- Staffing and operations: the proposed budget increases full-time equivalents from 61 to 62.3 (adding one police officer and converting a 0.7 code-enforcement position to a full-time 1.0 to address workload).

- Pension/OPEB: the city is continuing contributions above required levels. Gaines said the additional above-required payments in the general fund total about $572,000 and about $30,000 in the utilities fund (these figures represent the above-and-beyond amounts, not the total annual contribution).

Grants and projects discussed

Gaines reviewed several grant awards and applications: a $200,000 Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Shared Streets and Spaces award for Seventh Street sidewalk and ADA improvements; a $30,000 Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation grant administered through the Michigan Municipal League for branding work; and a previously submitted $1,000,000 community project funding request to support wastewater treatment plant work (see separate article). Gaines said the city will reapply to the same community project funding program under Congressman Tom Barrett after a continuing resolution left prior requests unfunded.

Council action and next steps

Council voted to set the required public hearing on the proposed 2025–26 budget for Tuesday, May 13, 2025. The motion to set the public hearing was made by Council member Gibson and passed on a voice vote. Director Gaines and staff scheduled deeper departmental budget discussions during two budget workshops on April 15 and 16 and a public hearing on May 13.

Gaines closed by noting the city is using conservative revenue estimates (particularly for interest income) and that the draft budget will be reviewed line-by-line during the workshops before final adoption.

Ending

The council will review departmental details at scheduled budget workshops April 15–16 and hold the public hearing on May 13, 2025, before final budget adoption.