It’s budget season and municipalities all throughout Utah are required to submit their 2025-26 fiscal year budgets to the State Auditor’s Office before June 20. That means, the proposed budget for the city of Cottonwood Heights must be adopted by the city council during their business session meeting at 7 p.m. on June 17. 

Currently, the proposed 2025-26 fiscal year budget for Cottonwood Heights includes $8.4 million of estimated revenue from property tax and new $1.4 million property tax revenue for the bond debt service for the Hillside Plaza (2378 Fort Union Blvd.). These are only two of many revenue sources that the city pulls from, but they’re the ones that can be most accurately predicted. 

For example, it wasn’t until mid-April that the city found out their Class C Road Funds had increased upwards of $120,000 and the Community Health Coalition found out they would be receiving more funding than anticipated from Salt Lake County with a grant of $22,315.  

Since HB 368 Local Land Use Amendments (the state legislature’s attempt at regulating unincorporated “islands” by mandating annexation into the most populated neighboring city) only recently went into effect on May 7, it is unknown how property (and other) tax revenue will be redistributed. 

“Several new annexations will be coming in mid-year so that will boost revenues,” said Administrative Services and Finance Director Scott Jurges. 

Even though some anticipated revenue sources will “boost” the city’s budget, Jurges is still cautious with his expenditure estimations as the projections for revenue could be uncertain based on the current leadership of the nation. 

Currently, the proposed budget includes a beginning Fund Balance of $6.5 million. One of the biggest expense categories for Cottonwood Heights includes city services partnerships, memberships and staff/personnel. 

For example, United Fire Authority (UFA) typically raises their fees annually for members (cities) who use their safety services. Luckily, the annual increase rate came back lower than expected at an $140,000 increase during the earlier part of May. 

“That change is the lowest percentage increase we will have with UFA for a long time,” Jurges said. 

As Cottonwood Heights Mayor Mike Weichers serves as the UFA Board of Directors Chair, he was able to chime in on their decision.

“We made a deliberate effort and (the fee) went down over $130,000,” Weichers said. 

Paying city employees has, pretty consistently, been one of the biggest expenditure line items in the city’s budget. Each year, the city council deliberates on how much of a COLA and Merit increase rate to award city staff members. This year, the council’s decision was to move forward with a 2% COLA increase for all employees, a 1% Merit increase for civilians, and a 3.63% average Merit increase for police. This equates to a $1.1 million expense increase in the city’s budget. 

“It isn’t final per se, but close,” said Jurges on May 12. “This would be a change from the tentative budget of a savings of about $75,000.”

However, some of the city employees were not pleased with the decision to separate merit increases between civilians and sworn employees. 

“As currently proposed, these changes reflect a clear disparity in how the City treats Police Department employees compared to all other City staff,” wrote ‘Concerned Civilian Staff of Cottonwood Heights City’ in a letter directly calling on the Mayor and City Council Members to reconsider the allocation of COLA and merit on May 13.

“The unequal treatment sends a troubling message: that the work and contributions of civilian employees are less valued. It fosters resentment and creates unnecessary division between departments, undermining the collaborative environment that should define our city government.” 

These concerns were brought to the city council’s attention during the public comment session of the city council meeting on Tuesday, May 20. A decision has yet to be finalized in the tentative budget (as of publication). 

Cottonwood Heights plans to do a market study this upcoming year to evaluate exactly where they sit in terms of paying their employees based on the state’s local industry. 

One of the unexpected hits to the city’s expenses in 2026 will be for fire hydrants. Salt Lake City Public Utilities increased the service fee by $125,000 per hydrant—totaling a $1.3 million increase from last year’s budget. 

Additional new expenses Cottonwood Heights plans to pay this year include: increases to municipal fees for elections from Salt Lake County ($86,000), an increased rate for the city attorney’s services ($7,500), taking over Doverhill Park (3625 E. Doverhill Drive) where a previous church was torn down ($20,000), finding new travel arrangements for the Youth City Council as their old van needed to be sold, and implementing a new wellness program for city employees. 

To stay up to date with Cottonwood Heights news: sign up for city emails by visiting their website (www.cottonwoodheights.utah.gov) and navigating to the Community tab. Under the Connect category, click Emails to be taken to the sign-up form. 

To view the Cottonwood Heights Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Tentative Budget, visit the city’s website (www.cottonwoodheights.utah.gov) and navigate to the Your Government tab. Budget & Financial Reporting can be found under the Finance category. 

Residents can review the tentative budget and voice their insights to the city council during public comment sessions typically held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings (at Cottonwood Heights City Hall, 2277 Bengal Blvd.). Comments can also be submitted online through the city’s website under Public Records and Notices.

In addition, a public hearing for the Proposed 2025-26 Fiscal Year Budget is scheduled for June 3 at 7 p.m. Jurges expects the public hearing to likely carry over into their council meeting on June 17 as well.  λ