Denton PUB reviews FY2026 preliminary utility budgets; water, wastewater rate increases proposed and staff weighs a convenience fee for card payments

Denton City staff on Monday presented preliminary fiscal-year 2026 utility budgets to the Public Utility Board, proposing modest base-rate increases for water and wastewater while recommending a new flat convenience fee for some electronic payments to recover credit-card processing costs.

The proposal would raise residential and commercial water base rates by 3% and residential and commercial wastewater base rates by 11% for FY2026, officials said. At the same meeting staff also presented a draft convenience-fee option for online and kiosk payments: a $2.90 flat charge would recover about $1.3 million of the city's annual card- and e-check-processing expense; a $1 fee would recover about $460,000, per staff figures.

The budget review matters because proposed rate adjustments and fee decisions will affect household bills and the utilities' ability to fund planned capital projects and debt service. Staff said the water and wastewater increases are driven primarily by capital improvement program (CIP) spending and rising debt service…