Lexington council updates utility cutoff rules, approves year-end budget amendments and $300,000 Columbia Gas appropriation

LEXINGTON, Va. — The Lexington City Council on Oct. 13 adopted an ordinance revising the city’s procedures for discontinuing utility service for nonpayment, approved year‑end budget amendments and accepted a $300,000 contribution from Columbia Gas to be used for paving and a temporary increase in Main Street Lexington’s line of credit.

The utility ordinance, labeled 2025‑06, was presented to the council as a housekeeping update to bring local code “into compliance with changes to state statute,” the city manager said during the public hearing. The council approved the measure unanimously after a public comment from a resident who said unresolved billing and underground infrastructure problems had caused repeated high water bills at her home.

The utility changes include a new prohibition on disconnecting water service when the weather forecast predicts a high of 93 degrees Fahrenheit or higher; the city manager said the practical effect is to wait until a high‑temperature trend is over rather than making single‑day cutoff decisions. The ordinance also requires the city to publish disconnect information in English and Spanish and expands options for property owners to make tenants responsible for service in some cases.

Resident Dawn Mays Johnson addressed the council during the public hearing on the utility ordinance, describing a nearly fourfold increase in charges at her address (from typical monthly bills of $50–$60 to as high as $195) and telling the council she has made repeated requests for underground inspection. “Public Works later informed me that the increased usage was occurring between midnight and 6 a.m., a time when no one is awake or using water in my house,” Johnson said. She asked the council about the city’s procedure for placing liens on properties for unpaid utility bills and requested clearer processes for detecting and repairing failing underground infrastructure.

Council members and staff acknowledged Johnson’s concerns and the city manager said staff would follow up. The council’s formal vote to adopt ordinance 2025‑06 was unanimous.

On finance, Finance Director Jennifer Bell presented the city’s unaudited FY25 fourth‑quarter report. Bell said gross revenues for FY25 were $32,500,000; after removing one‑time bond proceeds and related reimbursements, she said recurring revenues total approximately $25,300,000. Bell reported year‑end expenditures just under $23,900,000 and said the city closed FY25 with an anticipated general‑fund surplus of about $766,500 after planned carryovers. She said the city will present a formal audited report from Robinson Farmer Cox, expected in early December.

Bell also asked council to approve ordinance 2025‑07 to reappropriate year‑end balances and recognize several specific items. Among the requests she listed: $1,200,000 of bond proceeds to cover bond‑related expenses; a $4,700 donation to the school fund; $172,285 from the utility fund for costs tied to a Moores Creek Dam geotechnical study and related work; and a reappropriation from fund balance of $309,899 to cover city hall swing‑space costs that spanned fiscal years. Bell said about half the Moores Creek Dam geotechnical study costs will be offset by a state grant the city already expects to receive.

Councilors asked for clarification on several line items, including the donor and purpose of the small school fund donation and the nature of the Moores Creek Dam expense. Bell and the city manager confirmed the dam item covers an engineering/geotechnical study and that roughly half of the cost will be reimbursed by the state. Council voted unanimously to approve ordinance 2025‑07.

The council also considered ordinance 2025‑08 to appropriate $300,000 the city expects to receive from Columbia Gas. The city plans to use $150,000 of those funds to cover paving on streets where Columbia Gas recently replaced mains and $150,000 to temporarily increase Main Street Lexington’s line of credit; city staff said the Main Street increase would be repaid as donations to the Main Street program arrive over several years and that no interest is being charged. The city manager emphasized that Columbia Gas’s payment will be invested back into roads affected by the gas work and that the expectation is Columbia Gas will restore sidewalks or other areas where it cut them during work.

Council approved ordinance 2025‑08 unanimously.

At the start of the meeting the council also authorized one member’s remote attendance for family caregiving; the vote to allow Councilman Driscoll to participate electronically was unanimous and included the required public statement of his reason for remote attendance and his location (Newfield, New York).

Votes at a glance

- Remote attendance approval for Councilman Driscoll — outcome: approved (unanimous roll call). - Ordinance 2025‑06 (amending procedures for discontinuing utilities for nonpayment; compliance with state statute; language access and heat‑threshold protection) — outcome: approved (unanimous roll call). - Ordinance 2025‑07 (FY25 budget reappropriations and appropriations: bond expense appropriation, school donation, Moores Creek Dam geotech appropriation, city hall swing‑space) — outcome: approved (unanimous roll call). - Ordinance 2025‑08 (appropriation of $300,000 from Columbia Gas for paving and Main Street Lexington line‑of‑credit support) — outcome: approved (unanimous roll call).

Why it matters

The utility ordinance changes limit the city’s ability to disconnect water during extreme heat and require multilingual notice — steps city staff said will increase consumer protections. The budget actions formalize year‑end accounting, appropriate the city’s share of a dam study partially funded by the state and allow the city to accept a sizable private payment earmarked for repaving streets disturbed by utility work. Residents who raised billing and underground‑infrastructure concerns asked the council for clearer inspection and lien procedures; staff said they will follow up.

What’s next

City staff will bring formal audited FY25 financial statements to council when the audit is complete. Staff also said they will follow up with the resident who raised billing and sewer‑line issues and will publish bilingual disconnect information under the revised ordinance.