Regional staff tells Levan council CDBG money delayed; state now requiring new impact‑fee report format

A regional representative briefed the Levan Town Council on Sept. 11 that the town’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) award is prepared for contracting but the federal government has not yet transmitted funds to the state, delaying towns’ ability to begin work.

"We have everything ready on our side and the state side, but we haven't received the money from the federal government," the representative said, noting that federal timing varies year to year and that some past cycles did not provide funds until winter. He said the town should be able to start work "pretty quickly" after the state receives the federal allocation and the state routes funds to regional AOGs (association of governments).

The representative also warned that the state is enforcing a new impact‑fee report template this year. The required elements described included the address and payer for each collected impact fee, the amount collected, whether the fees are in an interest‑bearing account and interest earned, and the specific project and year the fee is planned to fund. "That's one of the big things that people are getting kicked back on," he said, adding that the requirement is hard for small communities that cannot always plan every project to the level of detail the state now requests.

He said the deadline for applications to a program abbreviated in the meeting as "CIV" is Oct. 1 at 5 p.m., and that CIB (Community Impact Board) funding in recent cycles has leaned toward loans rather than grants. He also said the state is considering proposed new fees for Utah public water systems that would be assessed largely on population; one example discussed referenced a scale that could mean several thousand dollars a year for smaller communities and, for larger cities, substantially higher amounts.

The representative pointed council members to the Utah League of Cities and Towns conference in October in Salt Lake for further training and said staff could help with the new impact‑fee template if the town needed assistance.

Council members asked clarifying procedural questions after the briefing, including the number of votes required for certain actions under the state's open‑meetings rules. The representative reminded the council that vote thresholds do not change because of vacancies: a five‑member council requires three votes for ordinary action and a two‑thirds vote (four votes) to go into a closed session.

The briefing was discussion only; no formal action on grants, fees or impact‑fee reporting was taken at the meeting.