Williamsburg council holds public hearing on FY27 budget; proposes 7% water rate increase, 14 new positions

Council opened public hearings on the proposed FY27 budget on April 9, 2026, as Interim City Manager Michelle Dwit gave an overview of the plan that keeps the real-estate tax rate unchanged at $0.62 per $100 of assessed value while adding 14 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions and proposing a 7% increase to water rates.

Dwit said the budget is balanced without raising the real-estate rate and that 13 of the 14 new FTEs would be funded in the general fund while one would be in the utility fund. She described the budget as a planning and appropriations document and cited $20 million budgeted in the current fiscal year and $6 million in the next for construction on a proposed downtown library. “This budget is balanced with borrowing those funds to move forward with the library,” she said, and noted internal controls that keep projected debt-service-to-expenditures below an 8% threshold and under the city’s 12% ceiling.

The proposed 7% water-rate increase, Dwit said, responds to a need for continued investment in water infrastructure after years with little or no increases. Staff framed borrowing as a “pay-as-you-go” approach rather than a single lump-sum borrowing for an estimated $30 million of utility work and said the city is pursuing grants to offset costs.

Residents and stakeholders addressed the council during the public hearing. Carolyn Murphy of Yorkshire Drive urged council to delay approving the staffing requests until more thorough position-level documentation is provided, saying the one-page list on the budget website is inadequate to justify new hires and citing historical and comparative staff counts. “Much more attention in the future must be paid for staffing requests and priority should be given to system failures and absolute needs instead of wants,” Murphy said.

Council members pressed staff on timing and implementation details: whether funds added in FY27 would be available in time to affect this summer’s tourism season (staff confirmed capital funds become available July 1) and whether work on the water system would proceed via staged borrowing and grant-seeking (staff confirmed staged borrowing and ongoing grant efforts).

Next steps: Staff will collect public input, post materials online and bring items back for council direction. Council is scheduled to consider budget adoption at its May 14 meeting.