I believe that there are more ways to connect with the community than the 20 people who can go to the meetings. I want all residents of South Weber to feel involved and know what is going on in the city. I want to increase communication, transparency and understanding between officials and residents. I believe I can do better at getting information to the residents, as I have in this blog. I am an official registered candidate, a vote for me will count! #swmorethan20
Did I already lose you on just that first sentence? 😬😴
If so, I understand! I would've scrolled past too. But if you are interested in a simplified budget explanation, I hope you will continue reading. These are your tax dollars after all! Where do they go?!?
On Tuesday June 8th there will be a public hearing to pass fiscal year budget 2021-2022. The admin of finance committee has been working so hard at this budget for months now. I appreciate their time and dedication to this task, it is no small feat. This is your opportunity to relay back to your representatives your concerns, comments and questions on the budget and how your tax dollars are being implemented. This will be 6pm at city hall.
Here's a look at the budget at a glance:
•SWC has approximately $2.6 million available spending dollars to allocate at the discretion of the city (meaning funds that have not already been earmarked or assigned to other areas).
•Our debt has decreased to just under $200k due to principal payment on bonds.
•The city's current property tax rate is proposed to bring in just under $755k for 2021-2022. Because the county is discontinuing paramedic services, the taxes SW citizens pay for those services to Davis County will be redirected to SWC after a truth in taxation hearing. This will raise the revenue to just over $830k, but that excess is expected to be applied to the costs of providing our own paramedic services.
•SWC currently has just under $640k in savings as a rainy day funds and to float monies while waiting for property tax funds to come in, which is 24.4% general fund total revenue.
•Capital Projects are one time costs for projects. The proposed budgets includes several different items for this fiscal year. Some of these are demolition of the Civic Building (directly in front of the fire station), streetlight replacement program (moving us to own our own streetlights rather than Rocky Mountain Power), a baseball diamond for Cherry Farms park and upgrades to Canyon Meadows Park and design for a new public works building among others. You can see review these updates and the budgeted amounts on page 10 and 11 of the city's proposed budget (linked below).
•SWC will also be doing updates to many roads in this proposed budget, including mill & overlay for 475 E, View Drive and Heather Cove. Chip and seal will take place on 4 other streets and various other places within the city. You can see a map of all street upgrades on page 95.
•The budget will let you see exactly where other funds are going to - police and fire, employees, vehicle replacement programs, infrastructure costs and more.
That wasn't so bad right? I hope you will each take a moment to dig in and see exactly where the revenue and funds SWC has is going. And I equally hope that you will come and let us know how you think we are doing on Tuesday evening! Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. ☺️
I ain't gonna lie, this is a long one!! Lots of good info and things to be aware of, especially during reports.
It was so great to be back in council again and see everyone face to face. I think all of us have gained a greater appreciation about the ability to gather! Thank you for those who made public comment and for all you who participated online. We had 11 public comments (one email) for this meeting.
•Coronavirus update from Mayor Jo: Davis County has had an increase in cases but our rate is 2.6%. They like to see that stay below 3%. 2 of our active cases have recovered, leaving 2 active cases left.
•We had two public hearings regarding the budget; one was to amend the FY 2019-2020 budget and the other was to review the FY 2020-2021 budget.
•Proposed changes to this FY budget: Some of the changes that we needed to make adjustments for was increased revenue due to an increase in developing. Part of those revenues will be used to put lights in new subdivision (paid for by the developer). There was also adjustments to salaries and other operations and maintenance items. You can see these changes in the packet.
•Development Agreement with Riverside RV Park: The council asked many questions about this agreement. There was a discussion on the TUF contributions. The agreement allows the developer to adjust how many long-term (any stay longer than 30 days) and short-term sites (any stay less than 29 days). The council questioned on how that report would be given to the city and when. It was determined that the developer’s software would provide the information needed. Each of these stays will contribute to our city’s TUF fund based on a ERU calculation. The disputed 4 acres that reside in Weber County will not be developed until the boundary issue is resolved. In the event the boundary cannot be resolved, those 4 acres will remain open space for this RV Park. A motion was made with amendments to the original contract regarding the reporting features and the contract to be indefinitely rather than 10 years. Resolution passed 4-1.
•Site Plan Approval for Riverside RV Park: A few more items were discussed concerning the site plan. The motion passed 5-0.
•Approval for Conditional Use Permit (CUP): Council questioned what recourse the city would have if the RV Park is out of compliance with their rules. City manager Dave Larsen said that it would fall to code enforcement and the ordinances of our city through proper processes. Resolution passed 4-1.
•Street Light Project: Developments that are 2 years or newer are now able to have their streetlights installed. The council approved a bid by Big Bear Electric.
•Uintah/South Weber border discussion: There has been a discussion with Uintah regarding our border no longer falling to the river but running alongside I84. This would then veer to the north at the RV park and Cottonwood Drive and then back up to I84 again. It was questioned why Uintah would not take the section of the RV Park and Cottonwood Drive and was answered that they didn’t want too. Council suggested a compromise that we keep the border as suggested, but we find a way to cost share the maintenance of Cottonwood Drive as it is a road they highly use. The discussion with Uintah will continue and come back to the council for final approval.
•New Business: A consideration was brought up about the possibility of a new city hall as we are out of date and space is becoming problematic. This is a very long process and could take use but it was decided the Admin and Finance Department would start looking into beginning that discussion. A public comment addressed concerns about the budget of the fire department, the public safety will take on that discussion and look into it.
•New Reports: Mayor Jo reached out to Mark Larsen to ensure the corner piece off of the frontage road where it turns into 8200 E needs to be maintained by the HOA. She also reported some interesting stats from the WFRC. In the past 3 months: fuel tax is down 14%, E-commerce is up 40%, telecommunting is up 40%, public transportation is down 70%, bicycle and open space use is up 100%, freeway volumes are down 40%, travel time by auto is down 15%, air emissions are down 38%.
•Councilman Halverson: Planning Commission met and discussed Morty’s carwash off 2700 E. They recommended the CUP and the site plans to the council. This will be coming up to the council soon. There has been lots of public comment on this development.
•Councilwoman Alberts: Public Relations met and discussed the audio and video of quality for city hall. Bids are currently out and will come before council soon. Happy to report that Country Fair Days committee had decided to move forward with Country Fair Days! Yay! It will be a modified scheduled but they have a lot of great ideas and fun activities. Our town hall meeting on Fiber will be held July 7th.
•Councilman Soderquist: Admin and Finance committee met twice to discuss salary ranges that were discussed in the budget hearing. He also met with both gravel pits. They are doing many things to help mitigate the dust. One day last week they were unable to do those mitigation processes due to high winds. They usually start the mitigation process around 9 or 10 am when they wind dies down.
•Councilmember Petty: Parks and Rec committee met with train club; they are planning to do their June train rides with some type of modification in place. The wetland restoration is expected to be completed by July 1st. Dave added in that the developers that did the do the dumping have been contacted with the hope they will help with the cleanup and save money for the city.
•Councilman Winsor reported on the townhall meeting will be a Fiber panel discussion. He and Councilman Halverson and residents that have been invited to attend will discuss the options and then take questions from the public. Mosquito abatement is still working on killing some bug with a long name that is responsible for West Nile. We do not currently have any West Nile cases in Davis County.
Holy Moley! Still with me? I know that was a lot! If you made it to this point you deserve a treat!
