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Council told to budget for Lone Peak assessment increase; directs temporary capital hold pending interlocal discussions
Summary
Highland faces a roughly $141,000 increase in its Lone Peak Public Safety District assessment after Lone Peak restored fire staffing and approved an animal‑shelter fee increase; councilors directed staff to temporarily reduce a capital transfer and use forecasted net revenues while seeking interlocal mediation.
The Highland City Council received an update on a Lone Peak Public Safety District final budget change at its May 20 meeting and directed staff on how to handle the resulting assessment increase.
Lone Peak’s governing board approved a final budget that restored two full‑time and one part‑time fire positions the district had earlier proposed removing. Combined with an animal‑shelter fee increase, Highland City’s assessment rise is about $141,083 for the upcoming year. Staff told the council the city currently has roughly $42,000 of available net revenue that could cover part of the increase, and the tentative Highland budget had included a $250,000 capital transfer for sidewalk work (10 400 North / 6000 West). Councilors asked whether the city should reduce that transfer to absorb the Lone Peak cost while the cities continue interlocal discussions.
Staff noted that the interlocal agreement governing Lone Peak requires cities to approve changes to Lone Peak’s budget that exceed the cities’ growth rate and that the procedural question of whether the cities must re‑approve the board’s final budget had been discussed; staff said the practical effect is Highland must show balanced final numbers in its budget even while interlocal negotiations proceed. Council direction: put the $104,000 portion of the capital transfer on hold (staff wording: reduce the $250,000 transfer by $100,000) and cover the remainder with available net revenues while staff pursues interlocal mediation between Highland and Alpine and seeks clarity on final assessments. The council also asked staff to watch whether animal‑shelter fee increases remain in Lone Peak’s final budget (Pleasant Grove and Lindon reportedly may oppose that change) and to update the Highland budget before the final adoption based on updated property‑tax numbers.
Why this matters: The Lone Peak assessment is a recurring civic funding decision that directly affects Highland City’s final budget and the city’s ability to fund capital work. Councilors balanced the need to fund public safety staffing with protecting local capital projects and asked staff to continue negotiations with the district and neighboring cities.
