Graham city council members agreed by consensus during a budget session Monday afternoon to increase fees for a number of city services for the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1.
The council mostly agreed that higher fees are needed to cover the city’s actual costs for services but clashed with mayor Chelsea Dickey over her requests for additional information about the budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
For example, Dickey had asked at a previous budget work session for an estimate of the potential cost for the city to provide all employees with the same 17.1-percent retirement contribution that police and firefighters receive, in addition to requesting such things as the city’s actual costs for contracted services…