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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's capital city is on the verge of passing a record-setting budget, and its leaders could vote as early as Tuesday to adopt finances for its 2024 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The process began in April but truly picked up after Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall unveiled her proposed $444.5 million budget on May 2; since then, the council has held a pair of public comment meetings on top of its work session meetings with the city's various departments to piece together the final document. The city settled on a $425.5 million budget last year.
So what exactly is expected in the next budget? Members of the Salt Lake City Council fielded questions that residents had about the budget through an "ask me anything" event last week.
Here is what they had to say about it.
Affordable housing and homelessness
The cost of housing and homelessness remain topics of interest for many Salt Lake City residents.
Salt Lake City Councilman Dan Dugan says that the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City budget will include $11 million going toward programs that help make housing more affordable. The city had allocated $56 million for affordable housing projects since 2020 prior to the budget discussions, which has helped create more than 4,000 new affordable housing units.
"We're also shifting into funding programs for affordable homeownership, financing of (accessory dwelling units), as well as those property owners that provide existing affordable housing rentals," said Salt Lake City Councilwoman Ana Valdemoros.
The city currently has a gap of about 5,500 units of deeply affordable housing, which are residents who make 30% of the county's area median income or less. The city is also in the process of finalizing a new five-year housing plan that seeks to trim the gap.
Salt Lake City Council Vice Chairwoman Victoria Petro adds there has been an "intense amount of collaboration" between state, county and city leaders when it comes to homelessness, which all cover different angles of the issue.
"We're looking at things like resource centers and shelters, and really wrestling with things like: How do we incentivize dignified care?" she said. "How do we maintain the cleanliness and safety of public spaces? Balancing the needs of people who are experiencing homelessness. With the county and state as partners, we're also looking at things like unprecedented investment in additional recovery and mental health treatment."
Her comments came before a work session meeting on Monday, where the council considered spending $500,000 on sanctioned campsites in the city. The council agreed to put the money into a holding account so they could make that money available after more details of the plan can be hammered out.
What's the deal with the utility bill increase?
While neither the mayor nor the council have talked about property tax increases, utility bills are set to go up in July. There's an 18% increase in water utility fees, a 15% increase in sewer fees and a 10% increase in stormwater fees.
This is actually something that was planned before all the budget meetings began. The increase is set to be used to help the city pay for a new $800 million water treatment plant that was needed to keep up with new federal regulations.
"Our infrastructure is aging, and we need that infrastructure to make sure that we have clean water across the city," Dugan said, explaining the intent behind the upgrades. "That requires additional funds to pay for it."
Meanwhile, the city appears to be moving closer to adopting a new drought surcharge that will be imposed on people who use more than 30 centum cubic feet (about 22,441.6 gallons) during the irrigation season, April through October.
"We hope this encourages residents to learn ways to reduce their water usage," Valdemoros said.
Public safety funding
Another resident asked why the police budget is so large. Its proposed budget is nearly $111 million, representing about a quarter of the entire budget. A big reason for this is that the department would have 761 full-time employees, 11 more than last year, should the proposal be approved without additional changes.
Valdemoros explained that some of the proposed increase of almost $7 million would go toward helping expand the city's civilian response team, which would take pressure off law enforcement. Per the city's website, there would be four new civilian offers, while six new police officers would be hired to work at the airport. These two additions combined account for about $1.25 million of the newly requested funds.
In addition to the civilian response team, Petro said there are the city park ranger and Community Health Access Team programs that the city debuted last year. All three and the Downtown Ambassadors program are all trained in helping de-escalating situations and checking in on individuals who may need to be pointed to different assistance programs, so police don't need to respond to as many nonemergency cases.
Adding to parks and recreation
Others asked about funds directed to recreational opportunities in the city. The city is close to issuing the first tranche tied to the $85 million general obligation bond that residents approved last year for parks projects.
Dugan said the city will be "restoring" various parks across the city while adding maintenance personnel to improve city parks, as those funds become available.
Meanwhile, two new pickleball courts are set to be added in the Poplar Grove neighborhood this summer. The sport is also a "central" component to the new Glendale Regional Park, which opens next year, Petro said.
