Council adopts fiscal-year budget and approves maximum salaries after weeks of debate

The Nibley City Council adopted its fiscal-year budget and an ordinance listing maximum annual salaries for statutory officers and department heads following a lengthy public hearing and extended council debate about how to divide cost-of-living increases and merit pay.

The vote followed a public hearing on the budget and a presentation by Justin, the city's finance lead, who reviewed revenue projections, proposed capital projects and a multi-part salary schedule. Council members debated whether to set a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and a possible separate merit pool, or to reduce the COLA and rely more on merit increases tied to performance.

The council adopted the budget with several staff-proposed amendments for capital projects and grant adjustments, including a small increase to bleacher funding tied to grant reimbursements and the moving of incomplete phase payments on multi-year street projects into the coming fiscal year. The adopted budget also carries amendments for the municipal building authority and the community reinvestment agency that were presented and discussed at the meeting.

Why it matters: The adopted budget sets the city's spending priorities for the coming year, funds capital projects and parks maintenance, and establishes how the city will compensate employees. The council's decision on how to combine COLA and merit will affect payroll costs and employee pay progression going forward.

Justin told the council the proposed budget includes a 3 percent COLA on July 1 plus a possible up-to-3-percent merit pool in January. He said, however, that because merit would affect only half of the year the net fiscal-year impact is smaller than a straight 6 percent increase.

"When you stretch that out and calculate it, it's really only about a 4.4 percent increase over the entire year," Justin said during his presentation.

Council members pressed staff for clarity about long-term pay-modeling. Justin walked through a multi-year compensation model developed from a prior job-classification study; the model projects larger increases in initial years as the city brings salaries toward market midpoints, then substantially smaller increases thereafter.

Council member Nathan proposed reducing the immediate COLA to 1.5 percent and using the remainder as a merit pool; that substitute motion failed. Several council members, including members who said they had reviewed data for other local governments, argued the original 3-percent COLA paired with a merit pool sent the right message to staff while keeping the city competitive.

The council also adopted an ordinance required by state law to publicize compensation for statutory officers and department heads. Staff explained they prepared two figures: (a) the budget impact for the coming year and (b) the maximum possible annual salary a position could reach in the year if COLA and merit were both applied. At the council's request staff inserted the word "maximum" in the ordinance table to make clear those numbers represent top-of-year potential, not guaranteed pay.

Justin said the ordinance numbers list "the proposed maximum annual salary for fiscal year 2025-26," and noted the actual amounts paid will depend on final merit determinations.

Council members and staff highlighted several budget adjustments proposed during the hearing: an additional $1,500 to cover a higher-than-expected cost for community bleachers tied to a grant, moving unspent construction contract balances on multi-year street projects (roughly $250,000) into the coming year's capital budget, and a roughly $6,000 carry-forward for the community reinvestment agency to pay required annual reporting costs.

Council member Norm asked staff to convene a dedicated budget workshop earlier in future cycles so the council can address these tradeoffs before the public hearing.

Ending: The council adopted the budget and the compensation ordinance as amended. Staff said they will implement the compensation policy consistent with the ordinance language and the merit policy the administration will finalize for January merit actions.

Votes and actions at a glance: The council voted to adopt the fiscal-year budget as presented with staff amendments (vote recorded as "in favor, not opposed"). The council separately adopted the compensation ordinance setting maximum annual salaries for officers and department heads as presented with the inserted "maximum" language. Specific roll-call tallies for some votes were not explicitly stated on the record in the transcript and are recorded below as "not specified" where not available.