Board of Mayor and Aldermen review water/sewer budget, water‑supply study and PFAS testing

At a Board of Mayor and Aldermen budget workshop on April 8, 2025, city staff reviewed the water and sewer enterprise fund that shows revenue over expenditures of $3,662,439 and detailed capital and operational needs that officials said will likely require borrowing and rate increases.

The presentation laid out projected revenue and expenditures for the next fiscal year and listed near‑term and longer‑term projects for the water and sewer system. Danielle (staff member) said, “revenue over expenditures is $3,662,439.” She also identified meter replacements budgeted at $535,000 and said total expenditures for the fund were $16,544,661.

Why it matters: the utility operates as an enterprise fund, which means rate revenue must support operations, capital and debt service. Officials said a combination of multi‑year projects, contract cost increases from Metro, and new regulatory testing may require larger rate adjustments or a bond to keep the fund solvent.

Staff and engineers summarized rate‑study recommendations and recent decisions that altered the planned increases. Kyle (engineering staff) said the rate study recommended a 15% increase for residential water, 10% for commercial and 10% for industrial for fiscal year 2026; sewer increases were originally smaller but were raised because Metro raised its wholesale rates. Kyle said, “we were supposed to do a 2% residential, 2% commercial and a 1% industrial [for sewer],” and noted that because Metro’s increase was larger than anticipated the city is proposing a roughly 5% sewer increase for residential and commercial to cover…