City manager reports water project progress, development activity and sales-tax change taking effect April 1

Toquerville — City staff on March 4 updated the council on several infrastructure and development items and reported a resolved fiscal audit issue.

Gary Lefever, the city’s assistant manager, said the Anderson Junction Water Project agreements are nearly finalized and he expects the project to be underway within two weeks. Lefever also briefed the council on development activity: Boulder Ridge is progressing with half-width paving and off-site utility stub-ins pending; Firelight’s 55-and-older community will see grading south of existing homes; and the Indigo community will be able to request grading permits once property purchase and construction plans are complete.

"We verified with the city engineer, the city attorneys, and everybody that all the i's are dotted, the t's are crossed," Lefever said, describing coordination on subdivision platting and bonding for off-site improvements.

City Manager Ben Billingsley said a sales tax increase approved during a special legislative session last fall will take effect April 1 and raise the local rate from 6.45% to 6.78%. He told council the additional revenue is directed to the special service district and "doesn't pass through our general fund." Billingsley also described a safety program offered by the city’s commercial liability insurer, Utah Local Government Trust, that includes a sidewalk inventory and repair program and mandatory leadership training aimed at reducing liability and insurance costs.

Billingsley announced a public open house on the draft strategic plan for March 18 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., where community members can review printouts of the draft and provide feedback before council action. He also reported a satisfactory resolution of the fiscal year 2025 audit related to eight public infrastructure districts (PIDs); one PID will be reported as a discretely reported component unit and the others will be handled in footnotes where applicable while the city pursues governance amendments to remove blended reporting next year.

Why it matters: The water project and subdivision work affect timelines for new utilities and roadwork in growing areas of Toquerville; the sales-tax change alters the city’s revenue flows by directing emergency-services funds to the special service district rather than the general fund. The audit resolution clears an outstanding reporting question from the FY2025 financial statements.

Next steps: Staff will finalize agreements and record documents for Anderson Junction; the city will advertise the strategic-plan open house and publish the draft; and council may see proposed amendments to PID governing documents in upcoming meetings.