DECATUR - The Decatur City Council wrapped up discussion on the city's budget Saturday, reaching consensus on several issues, including hiring additional police officers and firefighters as well as increasing water rates by 25 percent.

No official action was taken Saturday at the last informational budget hearing before council members are slated to meet Monday to vote on a 2008-09 budget.

City Manager Steve Garman has proposed a budget of about $123 million, down 1.2 percent from the 2007-08 overall budget.

Although city staff has proposed a water rate hike of 25 percent this year and additional annual rate increases of up to 4 percent each following year to be indexed with the consumer price index, council members Saturday were not in agreement with the staff about what to do beyond the 25 percent increase.

Council members disagreed with the idea of approving an automatic rate increase in perpetuity, but some members said they could support two years of rate increases up to 4 percent indexed to the consumer price index, after the initial 25 percent rate hike.

A 25 percent increase would mean a water customer with a monthly bill of about $16 would pay about $20 per month, resulting in an additional $48 annual cost.

Without a rate increase, the city's water fund is expected to run a deficit of about $1.8 million by the end of fiscal 2010.

City officials say Decatur has not increased its water rate for 10 years, and more money is needed to cover rising costs, pay for improvements of aging infrastructure and fund the dredging of Lake Decatur, among other projects.

But Council member Dan Caulkins said he was not prepared to support any water rate increase without city staff first going to the top 10 water users in Decatur to ensure the council is aware of exactly what impact the increase will have on the community's business climate.

Caulkins also said he thought more public discussion was necessary before any rate increase was approved.

Mayor Paul Osborne reminded the council that if members have objections to the water rate increase, they still could vote to approve the city's budget Monday, because a separate ordinance is required before the rate hikes would go into effect.

The city is required to approve a new budget before the next fiscal year begins May 1.

Council members also gave the city's police and fire departments the go-ahead to hire additional employees to help address large overtime costs.

Decatur Fire Chief Matt Sekosky seeks to hire seven additional firefighters to help his department reduce overtime costs that have ballooned to more than $1 million per year. Sekosky said hiring the additional firefighters is projected to save the city money during the next five years because of reduced overtime.

The Decatur Police Department is seeking authority to hire five police officers to help cut overtime expenses and reduce the time between when an officer retires and a new employee has completed the hiring process and training to replace that officer.

City Finance Director Ron Neufeld said regular turnover among Decatur police would allow the police department's existing budget to absorb the cost of hiring additional officers.

Mary Tallon can be reached at mtallon@herald-review.com or 421-7984.