Lodi Council adopts 2.4% water-rate increase starting March 1 as part of Prop 218 schedule

Lodi’s City Council voted Feb. 18 to adopt a 2.4% increase in water rates, effective March 1, 2026, as part of the five-year, Proposition 218-approved rate schedule.

Public Works staff presented the recommendation and said the increase reflects the Engineering News-Record index change for 2025 and stays below the council’s 5% cap. Staff noted that single-family meter conversions are essentially complete and multifamily conversions (Phase 9) were finished as of January 2026, moving many accounts to usage-based billing. The presentation included a water capital plan through fiscal year 2030–31 totaling about $56,000,000 and identified a $25,000,000 capacity-expansion item in 2029 that council members asked staff to detail in a future outline.

In the example staff provided, the fixed service charge would rise by $0.56 per month and the meter charge would increase by roughly $0.02 per hundred cubic feet; for a single-family home using 1,500 cubic feet per month the example bill moved from $40.26 to $41.16 (about $0.90 increase). Council opened the public hearing, received no public comment, closed the hearing and approved the resolution.

The staff presentation emphasized the council’s prior Prop 218 action that set the five-year schedule; annual adjustments return to council for consideration under the preapproved index and protest process required by state law.

Next steps: staff said it will provide a breakdown of the $25 million 2029 capacity-expansion line item upon request and continue implementing the meter-conversion program and capital projects financed by the water fund.