Wyoming finance director proposes 2026 fee schedule, including 5% water-rate increase and a new historic-review fee

The city’s finance director presented a proposed 2026 fee schedule Oct. 20 that would change fees across multiple departments and programs, including a proposed 5% increase to the water rate for 2026. The director said the increase reflects higher costs for materials, contract services and capital needs, including replacement of mains and equipment at the water plant.

Other proposed changes include adjusted tap fees for inside and outside the city, increases to charges for police security details to cover personnel costs, and several building-department adjustments including changes to permit fees. The staff also proposed a new $200 code-enforcement administrative fee intended to help recoup staff time for code-enforcement actions.

Council members pressed staff for more analysis on the proposed historic-review fee. The community development director, Megan Stapp, said the historic-review fee was previously collected as part of permitting and the proposed change would capture an upfront review fee; she and council discussed the possibility of waivers or scaled fees because projects in the historic district vary widely in scope and workload.

Recreation, civic-center and aquatic membership fees were also presented with proposed adjustments. Council opened the public-comment portion of the fee hearing; no members of the public spoke and the hearing was closed. Council scheduled third reading of the ordinance for Nov. 17 and staff said they would return with any suggested modifications to the historic-review fee and other items for consideration before the adoption vote.

No final fee ordinance was adopted at the Oct. 20 meeting.