The majority of conversations throughout the morning of Jan. 24 reverberated around one central theme which Mayor Gay Lynn Bennion has been summarizing repeatedly since her swearing-in: “The city has been eating into reserves for seven years. We cannot keep doing that.”

Every year, the Cottonwood Heights City Council meets with the city manager, department heads and key city personnel to collaborate on the city’s fundamental values and financial  priorities. The budget retreat is typically held as an all-day meeting in January or February.

“We have done more with less for years and now we are to a point where we need additional resources,” said City Manager Jared Gerber.

Leading up to the 2026 budget retreat, the city council was thinking about the level of service the city is wanting and willing to provide based on revenues and inflation rates. Councilmember Suzanne Hyland expressed her concern over the anticipated impacts of a 29% inflation rate. 

“The base is not sufficient to handle inflation,” said Finance Director Scott Jurges.

In addition to inflation rates impacting essential city services and labor and personnel costs, at least two big project developments will have major impacts to the budget. The Hillside Plaza (Town Centre development along 2300 E. Fort Union Blvd.) is anticipated to take at least two full years before buildout. Timelines for the Gravel Pit developments, including UDOT’s Mobility Hub (along 6695 S. Wasatch Blvd.), are currently uncertain so the financial impacts could occur in any of future fiscal years. 

“It may be better to leave it out for now until there is more certainty," Jurges said.

Fred Philpot, vice president and COO of LRB Public Finance Advisors, was asked to run some financial sustainability analysis studies. Philpot showed the city council two different possible scenarios for the city's finances to the council; one without any property tax increases and one with average annual property tax increases. Philpot started with the model assuming no property tax increases with an unrestricted fund balance of $4 million. 

 “Four million is not a lot. It’s a really small number for a city of this size,” Philpot said. 

The second scenario Philpot presented would assume an annual property tax increase of 3% every year. The additional revenue would help to bring the budget up to $5 or $6 million, which is where Jurges would like it. 

“We could make the budget whole within three or four years,” Hyland said. 

Besides raising property taxes, the city council is exploring additional solutions to balancing the budget. They will be working with city staff to re-evaluate all of the current city fees to make sure the charges for services are matching costs. They’ll also be exploring alternatives to city services and revenue streams for specific expenses (like GO bonds). City staff has been asked to research potential interlocal agreements for service-sharing as well. Department heads have been asked to evaluate their budgets to see if expenses can be cut by 5% without eating into personnel costs. 

“Cottonwood Heights doesn't have a lot of room for that,” Gerber said. 

“Employees are already nervous about the budget and the city already has a high turnover,” added HR Director Barbara Higgins. 

Residents have asked to bring in outside perspectives as well. A new eight-person resident ad-hoc committee was formed in early February. They will be meeting weekly throughout March to dive into the details of the city budget and continue these conversations alongside the city council. 

The city council will be continuing these conversations over the next few months in order to have a final 2026-27 Fiscal Year Budget submitted to the state before June. An additional budget retreat is anticipated for the end of March. 

“We need to fix the situation and figure out how to make it thrive,” said Councilmember Shawn Newell. “We want to make sure we don’t leave future councils and residents with the same situation in the future.” 

The full recording of the 2026 Budget Retreat can be found on the Cottonwood Heights Youtube page.

To learn more, visit the city’s website and navigate to the “Your Government” tab to find the “Budget & Financial Reporting” section: www.cottonwoodheights.utah.gov.