Council reviews tentative budget with grant-backed projects and possible $2/month fee to cover dispatch costs

City staff presented a draft tentative budget and highlighted several major revenue and expense drivers ahead of the council's required tentative-adoption deadline at the first meeting in May.

Dennis, the city finance/staff presenter, told the council the budget document is a work in progress and stressed the May adoption deadline: "The budget process requires that the council adopt a tentative budget for next year by the end of your first meeting in May." He said staff is waiting on some state and legal guidance related to transition processes and that several figures remain provisional.

Key highlights included a Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity grant earmarked for Innovation Park infrastructure (water, sewer and road extensions), a $110,000 city commitment toward industrial park expansion with some planned transfers from sewer and water funds, and a $26,000 reserve tied to a prior UDOT vision-plan grant. Dennis flagged an anticipated $2-per-month user fee to help cover new county dispatch fees and said that change would be shown on utility bills if the council adopts the adjustment. "This line anticipates an additional $2 a month user b increase in order to kind of hurt people, those costs," Dennis said, explaining it would help cover dispatch charges the county is implementing.

Capital items discussed included an estimated $150,000 elevator at City Hall (capital line shown near $190,000 including basement finishes) and a placeholder transfer to a pool roof/membrane reserve with a potential project cost cited in older estimates as high as $800,000; staff proposed setting aside $200,000 into the reserve. The recreation/sport-court program appeared in the draft with a capital placeholder of about $900,000 tied to grant funding and rack-tax contributions. Dennis also noted an increase in audit costs tied to federal funding for a water project and a modest COLA built into FY27 wage projections.

Council members asked multiple clarifying questions about timing, maintenance implications and funding sources. Staff said many lines will be refined before the next meeting and that the document is intended as a starting point for formal tentative adoption two weeks hence.