Council sets Oct. 7 public hearings on airport, landfill, utilities, cemetery and excavation fee changes

The council scheduled a series of public hearings for Oct. 7 to consider proposed changes across multiple fee schedules and ordinances. Deputy City Manager Brooks summarized proposals including using the CPI‑U Northeast for annual airport fee adjustments (and adding T‑hangar and tie‑down fees to the fee schedule), phasing changes to landfill operations including a return to a punch‑card approach, a 3% water rate increase and 5% sewer rate increase to support enterprise fund needs, revised stormwater/driveway/floodplain application fees, cemetery fee updates and a change to the excavation permit fee.

Councilors asked staff to provide the rationale and benchmarking used for fee proposals (especially airport tie‑down and jet categories), historical analyses of prior fee increases, and comparisons to surrounding airports and municipalities. Staff agreed to collect and circulate supporting data ahead of the public hearings. The motions to schedule the hearings were approved by unanimous roll call votes.