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Hamlet adopts FY26 fees, directs sanitation contract talks with Teder and selects LKC for water asset study
Summary
Council adopted the FY26 fee schedule (including a 10% water and sewer increase and new vendor fees), authorized contract negotiations with Teder after a single RFQ response, and directed staff to negotiate with LKC for a water/wastewater asset inventory and assessment funded by grants.
The Hamlet City Council approved several fiscal and procurement items intended to stabilize utility finances and advance planned infrastructure work.
Fee schedule and utility rates: City manager John (S6) said council needed to adopt a FY26 fee schedule to finalize budget numbers. The schedule included a recommended 10% increase to water and sewer rates (manager said the change would be minimal for most customers but needed to help cover loan payments for an upcoming wastewater treatment facility), higher tampering charges, modest administrative and zoning fee adjustments, and new event/vendor fees (pop-up market vendors: $15; food trucks: $25, effective April 26). Council discussed collection and enforcement challenges for tampering charges and asked staff to study cemetery plot fees; the council then adopted the FY26 fee schedule by motion and voice vote.
Sanitation RFQ and contract direction: Staff reported only one responsive RFQ for residential sanitation: Teder (a Richmond County LLC based in Rockingham). Manager S6 said contracting could reduce ongoing losses and recoup some operating costs; staff provided a range of estimates: maintaining current operations at current rates produced a roughly $8,000 annual shortfall, raising certain rates could generate about $90,000, and contracting at the proposed Teder rate could yield approximately $173,000. Council directed the city manager and city attorney to begin contract negotiations with Teder and to return any proposed agreement to council for final approval.
Water/wastewater RFQ and system development fee study: Council authorized the city manager to negotiate with LKC to perform a $450,000 water grant scope and a $150,000 wastewater asset inventory and assessment (mapping and a 10-year capital plan). The manager also recommended funding a system development fee study (statutorily required to set developer impact fees) at an estimated cost of $25,000; council approved that study.
Next steps: Manager S6 said negotiated sanitation and engineering contracts will return to council for formal adoption and that the approved fee schedule allows staff to lock budget numbers for the proposed FY26 budget.
