Mount Airy adopts multi-year water and sewer rate increases after heated debate
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
After extended debate over reserve targets and an automatic inflation adjustment, the Mount Airy Town Council adopted ordinance 2026-3 raising water and sewer rates in a tiered multi-year plan and adopted a companion resolution setting a $4.2 million reserve target.
The Mount Airy Town Council on March 2 adopted ordinance 2026-3, a multi-year package to raise water and sewer rates to stabilize the town’s utility finances and fund capital repairs, following extended debate about management guardrails and the ordinance’s long-term inflation adjustment.
The ordinance sets phased percentage increases for metered water and sewer charges (the ordinance language maps staged increases and then a 3% annual adjustment beginning in 2031). Council members and staff said the increases respond to an infrastructure shortfall identified during recent fiscal reviews: the town faced a significant capital deficit that staff and the Water & Sewer Commission concluded could not be resolved without multi-year revenue adjustments.
Mayor (speaker 1) framed the vote as necessary to keep water service reliable: "you can't run a business in town...We sell water as a commodity," he said, urging action to avoid service failures and further deficit. Several council members praised staff and the Water & Sewer Commission for rapid analysis and for revising tier structures so higher users pay proportionally more.
Other council members pressed for stronger annual oversight and limits on automatic increases. Council member (speaker 27) argued the ordinance’s provision for a 3% perpetual annual increase after year six required management guardrails and annual reporting; he said he would withhold support for the ordinance absent clearer monitoring steps. The council adopted a companion resolution (20 26-3) establishing a water-and-sewer reserve target of $4,200,000 and management benchmarks; council debated whether annual reports from staff should be mandatory or provided "upon request." The resolution passed with recorded nays.
The council approved the ordinance and the resolution by voice vote; the transcript records ayes and nays but does not list a roll-call tally in the public transcript. Officials said implementation will be phased by billing cycle and that staff will return with further budget materials and monitoring information.
Next steps: staff will implement the new rates into the June billing cycles as described in the ordinance, continue design work on PFAS remediation systems, and monitor revenues against the town’s multi-year capital plan.