Salt Lake City budget season begins with public open house. 

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It’s the most exciting time of year—budget season! Every May and June, the Salt Lake City Council works with the mayor to fine-tune a budget for the coming fiscal year. And on Tuesday, April 30, the city organized an open house to provide the public with insights on how the budget process works.

“The budget matters because it drives everything the city does,” explained Jennifer Bruno, Council staff deputy director, who led the open house presentation. “Unless there’s money attached to [their] plans, those plans can never quite come to fruition.”

The budget process starts with the mayor, who is responsible for preparing, drafting and eventually submitting a recommended budget to the Council. From January to March every year, the mayor meets with city department heads to identify city funding needs. Then, in April, the mayor drafts a recommended budget, which is submitted to the Council on the first Tuesday of May. The Council will receive this year’s recommended budget from Mayor Mendenhall on May 7.

“The city shows their priorities through their budget,” Bruno said.

The City Council has identified five funding priorities for the fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30 of next year. These priorities are city employee pay, addressing the city’s backlog of maintenance projects, assessing the city’s response teams and homeless services, managing the city’s rainy-day fund and community outreach and engagement.

The Council shares its priorities with the mayor during the development process, though the mayor is under no obligation to address them in her recommended budget.

The City’s total budget is roughly $2 billion, Bruno said, and it’s dispersed through “silos” corresponding to different city functions. The biggest silos are the airport fund, public utilities and the general fund.

The general fund is where “most of the city services that you see as a constituent day to day go,” Bruno explained. This includes police funding, public services and funding for city offices like the City Council, Mayor, Attorney’s Office and the Justice Court.

Revenue for the general fund is primarily generated through franchise, sales and property taxes. The state Legislature sets the maximum rate the City can charge for sales and franchise taxes, meaning the Council has a limited ability to adjust these rates and they are thus the least stable sources of revenue for this fund. Meanwhile, the Council has full control of property taxes, making them the most stable source of revenue. Property taxes are paid solely by residents and business owners, whereas sales taxes are paid by anyone who makes a purchase within the city, including commuters, tourists and other out-of-town visitors.

The state’s Truth in Taxation process requires the city to notify property owners when property taxes increase are proposed. The city is required to hold a public hearing if these taxes are raised to collect more money. This law also limits the amount of property tax revenue an agency can receive regardless of changes in property value.

“The government is essentially given the same amount of money every year, regardless of what your property value does,” Bruno explained. “So, if your house is worth $200,000, today, and next year it’s worth $300,000, the rate of your property tax for the city would automatically be adjusted down so that the city would receive the same amount of money that next year they received the previous year.”

Bruno recommended property owners thoroughly examine their bills to understand which entities are frequently proposing tax increases.

The General Fund is also where Capital Investment Program, or CIP, funding is drawn from. CIP funds city infrastructure projects like parks, public buildings and street projects. Constituents can request funding for projects through this program. While applications for the 2024/2025 fiscal year have closed, constituents can submit applications for the next fiscal year this fall.

After Mendenhall submits her recommended budget this year, the Council will receive weekly briefings on the budget and adjust it. The Council is required to adopt a budget by June 30. Public hearings for this public will occur at City Council meetings on May 21 and June 4.

To follow the Council’s budget briefings and find more information on the City’s 2024/2025 budget, go to tinyurl.com/SLCFY25.