Candidates highlight infrastructure costs, lead service replacement in budget debate

Budget priorities emerged as a central issue at the Two Rivers candidate forum, where candidates stressed infrastructure maintenance and rising equipment costs that squeeze the general fund.

Darla detailed recent price increases for city equipment and infrastructure: a 150 KVA pad mount transformer that cost about $4,675 in 2019 now costs about $18,612; bucket/digger trucks have risen from about $200,000 to more than $350,000; and a typical fire hydrant replacement now costs about $6,000. She emphasized the city’s lead service replacement obligation — she said about 900 laterals remain and called the overall program a roughly $10 million project that will need multi‑year planning and an EPA timeline.

Katherine Dulkkey said infrastructure and maintenance should be the budget’s priority and urged explicit long‑term maintenance plans to avoid one‑time big ticket failures. She also raised concern about discretionary spending such as a proposed $250,000 beach concession stand, arguing taxpayers expect levy dollars to fund core infrastructure first.

Adam Wusky explained the difference between the general fund (personnel, services) and borrowing for capital projects and said the city could have done more to trim the current levy but noted constraints such as retirements and rising insurance costs. Several candidates suggested the council should receive clearer department priority lists to evaluate whether purchases can be deferred.

Candidates agreed the budget is tight and that transparency and communication with residents about tradeoffs should guide any decisions.