The Cottonwood Heights City Council passed the city’s 2023-24 fiscal year’s tentative budget on May 2. Cottonwood Heights staff members will continue adjusting the drafted budget from council comments, public comments, and incoming tax data until the end of the month. 

“I want to emphasize to our residents how important it is to support local business,” said Mayor Mike Weichers. “When you support a Cottonwood Heights business, you’re helping city revenue, so we don’t have to raise property taxes. We are not going to raise property taxes because our sales tax revenue has continued to grow.” 

Cottonwood Heights is anticipating $9,200,000 to be collected from sales tax next year. Even though the certified tax rate will not be verified by the State of Utah until June 10, estimated property taxes collected by the City of Cottonwood Heights during fiscal year 2023-24 is estimated to be $8,234,829. 

The bulk of the city’s new property tax revenue creating that over $8 million will primarily stem from taxes collected on new structures, finished basements and other additions to houses. 

In addition, Cottonwood Heights is expecting to collect $2,300,000 from Energy Use Tax; $1,400,000 from Class C Road Funds, $800,000 from County Option Highway Sales Tax; $300,000 from Fee in Lieu of Property Tax (vehicles); $300,000 from Franchise Taxes (cable TV); $300,000 from Telecom Franchise Tax; and $175,000 from Transient Room Tax. 

In total, $25,352,579 in revenue is budgeted for the city’s 2023-24 annual budget. That’s a 2.3% overall reduction from the previous year.

Cottonwood Heights spends much of that revenue on city staff and employees. Expenses for Cottonwood Heights staff will increase $735,482 from fiscal year 2022-23, with various increases to cost-of-living adjustments (estimated 5.5%), merit (estimated 3.62%), and health costs (estimated 6%). 

“Looking at all of that together, it’s a significant increase,” said Councilmember Shawn Newell. 

Expenditures for the Cottonwood Heights Police Department (CHPD) are expected to increase by $94,050 this upcoming year. Valley Emergency Communications Center (VECC) will be increasing their dispatching fees by $5,050. In addition, one of the new expenditures for the CHPD will include $30,000 for a server to house historical Spillman records. 

“We need to bring those records in-house because it’s a system that VECC (Valley Emergency Communications Center) will no longer maintain,” said Finance Director Scott Jurges. 

Radio replacement funds for the CHPD are estimated to be $50,000, but the order is not expected to be filled until early autumn, at the earliest. 

“We are having some issues because the whole state is trying to get new radios at the same time. There’s a high demand due to a requirement from the state to get those radios updated,” Jurges said. 

Twenty thousand dollars will be spent on a FLOCK Camera System to pay for seven cameras within the city for license plate recognition. Four hundred dollars will be spent on postage for evidence transportation. 

Additional expenditures unique to the city’s 2023-24 budget will include: $270,000 for the Unified Fire Authority (UFA); $109,950 toward hiring a new Staff Engineer; $40,000 for biannual city elections; a $15,000 COLA increase for city attorney fees; $4,000 for GIS Licensing upgrades; and $2,000 for pedestrian crossing maintenance. 

Overall, Cottonwood Heights will spend $21,850,168 over the 2023-24 fiscal year. Cottonwood Heights’s 2023-24 General Fund Balance is estimated to have $5,873,354 available for appropriation after holding $2,224,851, which is required by city ordinance and state statute. 

Cottonwood Heights will be transferring funds out of their General Fund to cover multiple capital projects this upcoming year. These expenditures will include: $2,750,000 for Public Works projects; $1,569,548 for land and buildings; $560,763 for the Hillside Plaza Debt Service; $487,683 for Police vehicles; $310,218 for Public Works vehicles; $200,000 for the Storm Water Fund; and $37,592 for Public Works light duty vehicles. 

The final annual budget for Cottonwood Heights must be passed during their city council meeting on June 20. 

“The budget can be changed as many times as needed up until that last meeting in June. (City Manager Tim) Tingey and I believe this is a good representation of what we have discussed in various times and places,” Jurges said. 

To view the tentative 2023-24 budget, visit the city’s website at: www.ch.utah.gov. Then, search for “FY 2024 Tentative Budget Package” found under the “Budget & Financial Reporting” page. λ