On February 24, 2026, the Board of Trustees adopted Ordinance No. 01-2026, updating municipal utility rates for commercial water, irrigation-only water, wastewater, and stormwater services effective April 1, 2026. Residential water rates did not decrease as promised.

Important: What Wellington does NOT charge for — Non-Potable (Irrigation) Water via HOAs

Wellington’s utility rates cover treated, potable (drinkable) water only. The irrigation-only category in the rate schedule refers to commercial irrigation accounts that receive treated municipal water — not non-potable water.

Many Wellington neighborhoods receive non-potable water for lawn and landscape irrigation through a separate system managed by Homeowners Associations (HOAs), not the Town. HOAs typically bundle this cost into residents’ HOA fees. Wellington Municipal Utilities does not bill for, deliver, or control non-potable irrigation water — contact your HOA directly for questions about irrigation water costs.

This claim is flatly false and it conflates two separate questions that must be kept apart:

The real question isn’t “do we charge enough to cover costs” — it’s “are our costs what they should be?” No one is asking Wellington to run the water fund at a loss. The question is whether every dollar in that budget belongs there.

Saying “we have to pay the bills” dodges the accountability question entirely. Any governing body can justify any rate by spending enough. The Board’s fiduciary responsibility isn’t just to keep the fund solvent — it’s to spend wisely so that solvency doesn’t require excessive charges to ratepayers.

Rate increases the Board has approved: The Board voted 4 to 2 to raise water rates 15% on November 28, 2023. That same Board approved 6% employee raises in the same cycle. These are not independent decisions — they are the budget choices that directly produce the rate level residents pay.

Where rates could be reduced: The Board has authority to reduce administrative overhead expenses, eliminate unnecessary expenses in the utility funds, and defer or phase capital improvement projects (CIP). None of these require outside approval — they require Board will.

This claim misrepresents both the law and the accounting term. It was used to dismiss concerns about deficit spending — but it does neither accurately.

What Colorado law actually says:

The law’s actual standard is this: expenditures cannot exceed revenues PLUS whatever money was already in the bank at the start of the year. That means a municipality can legally spend more than it takes in — as long as it’s drawing from accumulated reserves. This is not the same as a “balanced budget” in any standard accounting sense.

What “balanced budget” actually means: In standard accounting, a balanced budget means expenses do not exceed revenues in the same period. Wellington is currently failing that standard in at least three funds — the General Fund, the Sewer Fund, and the Park Fund — by spending more than it brings in and using reserve drawdowns to make up the difference.

Wellington is not breaking the law. It is legally draining its reserves year after year. Analogy: “I’m not broke — I still have money in savings” while spending more than you earn every month. Technically solvent. Fiscally unsustainable.

Also worth noting: Wellington received a GFOA award for budget presentation quality and transparency — not for fiscal health and sustainability. The 2024 audit stated that three funds were overspending in the same year that the Town received that award. A polished budget document and a sound budget are two entirely different things.