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City budget hearing: revenues flat, wage increases and online posting debated
Summary
Mount Pleasant's proposed FY2025'26 city budget ($4,130,685 noted) was discussed at length: officials said some revenue streams are down, wage increases are budgeted across departments, power department rates and operating costs were raised, and a council member urged posting the full budget online for public review.
Council held a public hearing on the city's FY2025'26 proposed budget and questioned whether the municipality can absorb planned wage increases given largely flat revenue projections.
A staff member reported the city's total proposed budget as $4,130,685. Council members noted franchise-fee receipts (for example from Dominion) are lower even as utility bills rise for residents, producing a revenue shortfall relative to prior expectations.
Members discussed how wage increases would be handled. Staff said some pay increases for public works and other employees are expected to be paid from enterprise funds (sewer, water, irrigation) and that overall general-fund wage impacts would be managed by targeted cuts elsewhere. "Even pay raises of the public works guys basically comes out of your sewer and water funds," the mayor said.
A council member proposed posting the entire budget on the city website for public transparency; staff confirmed budget links were included with the public notice and agreed to explore a fuller budget posting and periodic updates. "I wonder if it was possible to be able to post the whole budget on the city's website... so that the public can go on and actually review it," a council member said.
Other items discussed in the hearing included possible rate increases in the power department to cover projects and operating costs; staff cautioned that some matters remain in litigation and advised the public not to rely on social posts for final information. The hearing closed without public comments or votes.
