Lafayette council adopts 2026 Waterworks and Renew budgets

The Lafayette Common Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2026-02 to approve the 2026 operating and depreciation budgets for Waterworks and Lafayette Renew.

City Controller Jeremy Deal presented the budgets and highlighted key elements: "They include a 3% raise for all employees," he said, and he outlined modest increases for chemicals and liability insurance, a proposed water operating budget of $14,113,404 and a Renew operating budget of $41,922,293. Deal said health insurance rates remain unchanged and that planned capital and replacement spending would be funded in part through depreciation transfers.

Deal described a short-term loan and asset transfer executed this year from Renew to Water to fund infrastructure improvements in Service Area 11B and explained that repayment is expected to be addressed through a forthcoming bond issuance tied to a pending rate case. He also noted a planned transfer from Renew operating funds to the Renew depreciation fund of $12,000,000 for 2026, down from the $18,000,000 transferred in the prior year, a change that accounts for part of the reduction in the operating budget.

Other depreciation and capital figures cited in the presentation included a Waterworks depreciation fund balance established at about $4,135,000 and a water main replacement fund proposed at $1,705,000. Deal listed planned Renew projects including Service Area 11B extensions, pursuit of a high-rate treatment facility, a Renew campus solar project and equipment upgrades.

After the presentation, council members thanked Deal for the narrative, and the council moved to a roll-call vote. The clerk called the roll and each recorded member voted aye; the resolution passed unanimously.

Deal closed by saying the budgets had been reviewed against existing resources and were "fundable."