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Belmont’s finance staff proposes 10.5% water/sewer fee increase; council debates police pay and hiring options
Summary
Finance staff proposed a 10.5% combined water and sewer fee increase to close a budget gap and stabilize the enterprise fund; council held an extended debate about police recruitment and retention, reviewing options to raise starting pay, boost incentives (the ALO program), or schedule a compensation study, and set a follow-up special meeting.
Finance staff told the council the city’s water and sewer enterprise is moving toward sustainability but needs an additional adjustment this year beyond the prior 8.5% plan. Kevin Krauss said the proposed combined 10.5% fee increase would generate roughly $80,000 per percentage point and would raise an average household bill by about $7.71 per month. "So the average household total increase would be $7.71," he said while walking through the rate impacts.
Councilors pressed staff on why the new proposal exceeded last year’s plan; staff explained that an assumed structural fixed charge included in the consultant’s financial model had not been implemented, producing a shortfall that the additional increase is designed to close. The administration said it will continue to refine rate structure options and possibly run another consultant study to evaluate meter-size fixed charges and alternatives.
Public safety compensation became the evening’s most time-consuming budget issue. Belmont’s Police Chief described recruitment and retention pressures: local agencies have raised starting pay and the local market has become competitive. The chief also described an internal Advanced Law Enforcement (ALO) incentive program—years in development—that rewards certifications and education with pay steps; council and staff stressed that ALO is intended to encourage retention and professional development.
The council debated near-term options to raise starting pay (discussed scenarios of $5,000–$7,000 increases) and the budget implications. Staff modeling showed a $7,000 across-the-board starting-pay scenario would increase recurring police-related salary costs by roughly $441,000 annually; finance warned that absent offsets the gap would draw on fund balance or require reprioritizing CIP or raising taxes. Council directed staff to run scenarios (including capped increases, how to handle wage compression, and tradeoffs with CIP) and scheduled a special budget meeting for April 28 to finalize decisions before the statutory budget-adoption deadline.
Why it matters: The fee increase affects every water/sewer customer, and the police pay conversation could produce recurring personnel costs with multi-year fiscal implications. Council members emphasized the need to balance fair compensation and retention with long-term fiscal sustainability and transparency to residents.
Next steps: Staff will finalize scenario modeling (police pay options, CIP tradeoffs, tax versus fee consequences), prepare outreach materials (a rate-calculator and bill insert), and continue budget deliberations at the scheduled special meeting.
