Rainier City Council approves budget for 2025-26 fiscal year

On June 30, the Rainier City Council voted to officially adopt the city’s 2025-26 fiscal year budget. The $13.6 million budget maintains current staffing and service levels and does not include any cuts.

Council also voted that night to increase sewer and water utility rates by 15 percent. That was the first rate increase since 2011.

The rate increase became necessary due to the rising costs of operating and maintaining the city’s wastewater and water plant facilities and related infrastructure.

Priority projects were funded in the budget. They include paving projects on East E Street and Richards Road and the Fernhill Sewer Separation and Water Quality Project. Those paving projects were funded in part by grants.

The City applied for $500,000 in state funding for sewer-line improvements, which was awarded during the 2025 legislative session.

The Fernhill Sewer Separation and Water Quality Project and the sewer line improvements are aimed at reducing the amount of stormwater that enters the wastewater treatment plant. Fixing those inflow and infiltration issues can go a long way towards ensuring that the city won’t have to add capacity to the wastewater treatment plant and incur significant debt in the process.

Through a partnership with the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Council of Governments (CWCOG), the City was able to provide regular bus service from Rainier to Longview. That service is mostly funded by a federal grant obtained by the CWCOG. The City’s match for that grant is $10,000, which is paid with general fund dollars.

Despite the challenges of inflationary pressures over the past few years, the council was able to pass a balanced budget that funds priority infrastructure projects and adds a bus service to benefit the city’s residents.