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Dalton board says it will post late budget, warns residents of rising overdue water balances
Summary
Trustees said the village is one year behind on a formal budget and reported more than $5 million in unpaid water bills; officials plan public hearings and outreach to arrange payments.
Mayor Jason House told the Board of Trustees on May 7 that the village finished the past fiscal year without an approved budget and is now posting a completed budget and preparing a FY2026 budget cycle.
“We are 1 year behind on our budget,” House said. He told residents the village has completed a budget reflecting actual results for the year that ended April 30 and will post it for public review and hearings.
House also warned residents about unpaid water charges. “We have over $5,000,000 worth of water bills that are outstanding that have not been collected that is owed to the village of Dalton,” he said, and added that the village will begin issuing warning tags to delinquent accounts and may move toward shutoffs if arrangements are not made.
Trustees described the immediate steps as: post the completed budget, schedule a public hearing to review line items, follow with a formal adoption vote, and then begin work on the May 1–April 30 FY2026 budget. The mayor said the FY2026 process will consider litigation expenses, overtime and additional revenue options to stabilize village finances.
Clerk Lisonbee Key confirmed the clerk’s office will make the posted budget available for review and that trustees will follow required public-notice steps for the hearings.
The board urged residents who cannot pay their full water bills to contact the village to make payment arrangements before shutoff becomes necessary. Trustees did not announce an exact date for shutoffs; officials described the notices they plan as “early warnings.”
No budget line-item votes were taken at the May 7 meeting; the board scheduled an upcoming committee-of-the-whole meeting to begin the public hearing process on the completed budget.
