Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council adopts executive pay increases after public comments urging budget cuts and transparency
Summary
Following required public hearings, the Brigham City Council approved compensation increases for municipal executive officers (numbers were already included in the interim budget). Multiple residents urged the council to trim the budget and avoid a proposed property tax increase, citing large transfers from utility funds.
The council held a statutorily required public hearing and on July 16 adopted an ordinance implementing compensation increases for executive municipal officers; financial director Jeff Schmidt presented the figures and said the increases were already included in the city's interim budget and cannot take effect until after the hearing.
During the hearing, resident Jewel Larson asked whether the public hearing is required annually; staff confirmed the hearing is an annual statutory requirement and that the amounts shown were included in the interim budget. After public comment closed, Council member Hipp moved to adopt the increases and Council member Jeffries seconded; council held a roll-call vote and the ordinance passed.
Multiple members of the public used the council's general public-comment period to press the council on the broader budget and a proposed property-tax increase. Donovan Malone told the council the original proposed tax increase was 12.93% but staff later calculated that required additional revenue of approximately $158,000 (reducing the effective proposed increase to roughly 4.1%), and asked the council to remove $158,000 from the budget so that no property-tax increase would be necessary. Malone also said transfers from utility funds to the general fund had increased and listed specific transfer amounts (for water, wastewater and electric) that he said provided additional revenue to the general fund.
Danielle Larson said she is concerned residents struggle to pay utility bills and questioned hiring and wage increases for some senior staff who, she said, do not live in Brigham City. Both Malone and Larson asked the council to consider trimming budget items rather than approving a property-tax increase.
Council members responded that the interim budget (including the pay increases) had been adopted earlier and that those pay rates are set for fiscal year 27 unless the council later amends them after the required public hearing. The mayor and staff said they would continue to engage citizens about budget priorities.
No change to the tentative budget was made at the meeting; the compensation ordinance was adopted as presented.
