Kaysville staff conducted multiple meetings with elected officials in preparation for the annual budget process. At its June 16 City meeting, the Kaysville City Council adopted its FY 2023 Budgets for the City, Redevelopment Agency, and Municipal Building Authority. 

City Finance Director Dean Storey explained changes in that Fruit Heights City had let Kaysville know they had contracted with Farmington City for Fire Department services, so corresponding revenue had to be removed from the budget. He said a second item was related to the water rates and programming of added revenue into the water fund to accommodate the rate increase.

The City Council discussed amendments to City positions, a compensation schedule for City officials and employees, and a Compensation Progression Plan (including cost-of-living, discretionary and merit changes). Councilmember Nate Jackson praised the quality of city employees and the “lean ship run by Kaysville City.” He said in looking at the compensation schedule, he did have angst about discretionary funding of 1.5% (budgeted at $150,000) and felt that was just merit called by a different name. He said due to inflation and gas prices, he would like to see the city do everything they could to save money.

Storey explained there were currently 134 authorized full-time city positions, as well as administrative appointed positions that include part-time and seasonal employees. He said each year the Council looks at the compensation plan and decides a market or cost-of-living adjustment and this year it was an increase of 4.75%. He said the number one issue that made the budget difficult this year was the phenomenal rate of inflation to consider.

Discussed followed about a fund balance deficit of about $1.2 million that the Council will need to decide how to cover costs. Staff had recommended the Council consider raising taxes to cover at least a part of those costs, as the unrestricted fund balance can only go so far to meet expenses.

Council voted unanimously to pause the discretionary compensation funding of 1.5% for this budget, and although important to have merit-based funding, adjusted the 0-3% sliding scale at the discretion of the department head for this budget. 

Council voted unanimously to move forward with changes to the Consolidated Fee Schedule, including water rate adjustments. Small increases were seen in various cemetery line items, including burial spaces and headstone moving as well as planning fee increases for annexations and general plan amendments. Other items included recreation field rentals, Recreation Center Building rental, and leagues. Water rate adjustments included a base rate increase of $2.00 per connection as well as adjustments to usage rates.

The Council debated as to whether to consider going ahead through the Truth-in-Taxation process. They discussed the numerous economic unknowns at this time, the dilemma created by Fruit Heights pulling its Fire Department services, and the desire to not make increases unless necessary. The other side is the need for demands and increases in public safety, fleet, capital improvements, and employees doing more with less. 

Councilmember Abbigayle Hunt said she “stays up at night worrying about the budget.” There were conflicting views as to whether to go ahead with the Truth-in-Taxation with the stipulation that every effort to find necessary funding would be undertaken in the meantime versus there being no reason to go through this process because it is not the right time and people cannot take any more increases. 

Mayor Tami Tran said she understands the expense of everything and the conservative nature of the Council and its desire to do the best as possible. She said the fund balance is money that has been gained over time that the city has been able to save. She said it looks like the economy will continue to worsen and proposed tax increases next year may be even worse for residents. She said there have been multiple conversations about areas or efforts for saving, but having a truth in taxation gives options for taking money from the savings and capturing some tax increase or not capturing any tax increase and does not cost the city money to undergo that process. 

Ultimately, the Council determined not to proceed with the truth-in-taxation process and to adopt the existing Certified Tax Rate at .001281 as calculated and proceeded to adopt the Fiscal Year 2023 budgets. λ