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Mayor Mendenhall proposes FY2026-27 budget with 12.5% city property-tax increase to close $13.5M gap
Summary
Mayor Mendenhall presented a $498.9 million general fund budget and proposed a 12.5% increase to the city's portion of property tax to raise $13.5 million, citing rising costs and cuts already made across departments. The council will take up public hearings and briefings in coming weeks.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall delivered her seventh proposed budget for Salt Lake City and said the plan balances tough trade-offs as federal aid narrows and costs rise.
"I'm proposing a general fund budget of $498,863,053, which is a 1.57% increase from last year," Mendenhall said, and recommended a city property-tax increase of 12.5% that she said would raise $13,500,000. She told the council the proposal follows months of cuts and targeted savings and emphasized protecting core services.
Mendenhall highlighted investments intended to preserve essential services and infrastructure: nearly $10,000,000 for ongoing affordable-housing efforts, $11,000,000 for street maintenance, $1,500,000 for sidewalks and ADA compliance, and $11,300,000 for parks maintenance and improvements. She also gave an example of household impact, saying a typical household valued at $624,000 would see about a $9.87 monthly increase and then broke down how each cent of that would be allocated.
The mayor framed the increase as an outcome of having exhausted other options: department reductions, vacancy savings and targeted rather than across-the-board wage increases. "We exhausted every other option before proposing increases to property taxes and fees," she said, noting earlier cuts of roughly $13.2 million and other operational savings.
Council members thanked the mayor and staff for the work and said the council will hold a series of budget briefings and public hearings before adopting an interim budget in June. Mendenhall noted public comment opportunities on the budget for May 19 and June 2 and a truth-in-taxation hearing scheduled for Aug. 11.
What happens next: the council will review detailed department briefings, hold public hearings and consider adopting an interim budget in June before further adjustments later in the process.
