09/15/2026
Dollars and Cents: do you know?
What is Belmont City Council costing you, the citizens?
How much did The City of Belmont, NC spend to purchase the historic Stowe family property in March 2026?
$6,900,000
How much $$$ is The city of Belmont spending on ignored sewage problems in Belmont, especially Morgan’s Branch neighborhood?
State Allocation for Water and Wastewater Projects: Belmont was awarded $10,000,000 in state funding via Session Law 2023-134 for critical water and wastewater projects. A significant chunk of this funding is being directed toward the Morgan’s Branch sewer facilities project on the South Point peninsula, where a total project cost is estimated at $15,520,000 to upsize pump stations and fix sewer overflow capacities.
Wastewater Treatment Plant Repairs: The City Council approved a $460,000 budget amendment to fix failed equipment specifically at Belmont's wastewater treatment plant.
South Belmont Sewer Evaluation: The city approved $215,000 specifically for engineering evaluations of the South Belmont sewer system following infrastructure strain that led to a residential construction moratorium.
Upgrades:
In its rolling multi-year budget plans, individual line-item sewer replacements include the Belmont Avenue Sewer Replacement = $2,667,000
Volk Street Sewer Upgrade = $1,242,000
Sacco Street Sewer Replacement = $1,367,000
Belmont agreed to pay = $1,700,000
to settle a class-action lawsuit concerning deceptive water and sewer impact fees previously charged to residents.
To fund these massive ongoing capital upgrades and infrastructure needs, Belmont recently implemented consecutive annual 10.5% water and sewer rate hikes for its residents.
How much money is the city of Belmont, North Carolina spending on the lawsuit involving attorney Karen Hinkley is not publicly available or documented in local media reports.
At least $100,000+
The background of the ongoing legal dispute involves the following details:The Lawsuit: Local attorney Karen Hinkley filed a lawsuit against the City of Belmont, its City Manager, and City Council members. The lawsuit alleges that city officials violated North Carolina’s Public Records and Open Meetings laws.
The Core Issue: The dispute began after the City Council voted to approve a revised personnel policy that quietly removed explicit workplace discrimination and harassment protections for LGBTQ+ employees (specifically regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Transparency Claims: Hinkley filed the lawsuit after she and other citizens alleged that the council coordinated the policy change through private text group chats, muted the audio of public comments on the official YouTube livestream, misrepresented her remarks in the official meeting minutes, and failed to adequately fulfill public records requests.
Legal Fees: While the exact breakdown of the city's current defense expenditures hasn't been publicized, Hinkley’s complaint explicitly asks the court to compel the city to adopt transparent practices and award her costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred from the action.
(From Gaston Gazette)
Guess how much city of Belmont, North Carolina is spending on the City Hall renovations project on Main Street of Belmont?
$3,303,000
 What is the project supposed to include?
Consultants told Belmont City Council the former city hall on Main Street could house a larger, flexible council chamber and leasable basement space; preliminary estimates ranged from roughly $2.4 million for first-floor and site work to $2.6–2.7 million including a 10% contingency, with alternati...
