ST. GEORGE — Residents can now review the city’s proposed budget of $527 million for the coming 2025 fiscal year.
“The FY 2025 City Manager Recommended Budget includes key recommendations ranging from investments in the city’s public infrastructure to investments in public safety and other core service areas with the addition of new personnel and equipment,” St. George City Manager John Willis wrote in the budget’s introductory summary.
Further recommendations outline continuing investment in the city’s recreational pursuits thanks to the general obligation bond for trails, parks and recreation that voters passed last November.
Also given particular emphasis is fostering better communication regarding the budgeting process, where the money comes from, and how it is to be used. This stems from demands made by residents last year for more clarity regarding the budget process.
The proposed budget was adopted by the St. George City Council last Thursday in a 4-1 vote for both council and public review.
The one nay vote came from Councilwoman Michelle Tanner, who was against putting taxpayer money toward the St. George to Springdale transit route, which she said should be a private venture rather than a public one. Despite her objection to this item, Tanner was otherwise favorable toward the budget and praised the staff who worked on it.
Public hearings
As the 2025 fiscal year starts July 1, Utah law requires municipalities to have their budgets adopted before or on June 30, yet also be subject to a public hearing prior to adoption.
The city of St. George will hold two public hearings for the proposed budget during City Council meetings on June 13 and June 20 at 5 p.m. as a part of their regular council meetings. Prior to the public hearings, an open house outlining the budget will be hosted by city staff on June 4.
“Strengthening the city’s communication with residents is another area of focus in this year’s budget, and we have proposed investment in new software to help us better engage and receive input from the public on city services,” Willis wrote in the budget summary.
People may also visit the city of St. George’s website and download the “FY 2025 Budget in Brief” document for a simplified breakdown of the proposed budget.
Budget funds breakdown
Coming in at $529 million, which is an increase of $6.7 million, or 1.8%, over last year, the proposed budget is comprised of over 40 district funds and divided between the “general fund” and “all other funds” in the budget summary.
The general fund covers the core services of the city, such as public safety, parks and recreation, land development, transportation planning, the regional airport and city administration to name a few. It is primarily funded through taxes and fees and accounts for 21% of the overall 2025 budget.
The “all other funds” category shows enterprise funds, sometimes referred to as proprietary funds. These funds are dedicated to city departments that are run in a businesslike manner. Other city funds include special revenue, debt services and internal services.
Also included in this category are electric, water and sewer services; major infrastructure projects including new roads, utility lines, parks and city facilities; economic development activities; and other miscellaneous services such as the Suntran Bus service. These services make up nearly 79% of the overall budget and are primarily paid for through fees charged to customers, grants, impact fees and other restricted revenues.
The general fund
The general fund is projected to be around $112 million and is $4.2 million more, or 3.9% higher, than the 2024 budget. A large chunk of the general fund traditionally goes toward the city’s public safety services, which amounts to 44% in this case.
“The General Fund is funded through a mixture of sources including the city’s portion of the sales tax, the city’s portion of the property tax, franchise tax, overhead reimbursements from other funds, service charges, licenses & fees, and other revenues,” Willis wrote in the budget’s summary letter.
Sales tax is estimated to make up 60.2% of taxes collected by the city in the pending budget, with property tax representing 20.7%. Overall, property and sales tax, along with franchise, innkeeper and other taxes, account for 55% of the general fund at a projected $62 million.
Sales tax in fiscal year 2024 saw negative to low growth, with collections at 1.4%, falling short of the 4.4% increase the prior budget predicted. However, sales tax revenue collections in March and April were reported at over 10% and 12% respectively.
Despite this, additional months of increased collection are needed to see if the trend has changed, according to the budget summary. There is continuing worry that the pressures of inflation and high interest rates holding for an extended period of time will negatively impact various sectors of the economy, like real estate and car sales. There is also concern that a recession may occur “based on the historical tell-tale sign of the inverted-yield curve,” the summary reads.
As for property taxes, the city only receives 11.5% of what residents pay. The remainder goes toward the Washington County School District, Water County Water Conservancy District and the mosquito abatement district. Moving into fiscal year 2025, the property tax collections for the city are projected to be at $12.8 million or 2% higher than the prior year.
No property tax increases are proposed for the 2025 budget. However, some utility services and other city fees will see rate increases as the city deals with rising costs of operation.
Other sources of revenue that make up the general fund include city licenses and permits, fines and forfeitures, intergovernmental funds (federal and state grants, road taxes and so on), charges for services, and transfers from other city funds.
Capital investment and project highlights
“A theme across much of the budget is planning for and responding to growth within the community,” Willis wrote. “The impact of growth is significant on the city’s budget, as more people locate to this area that drives the need for new and expanded streets to keep up with traffic, additional water, sewer, and power lines to provide utility service, new fire stations to provide adequate coverage, amongst many other infrastructure demands.
“Additional personnel are also required to maintain all of this new infrastructure and to provide service.”
The 2025 budget has $207 million in capital investments across all funds and for roughly 39% of the overall budget, making it the single largest part of it. This includes transportation, utility infrastructure, staffing and equipment. Projects being funded for the year are either new or continuing ones that carry over year-to-year until their completion.
Major road-related projects for fiscal year 2025 include putting $20 million toward the extension of George Washington Boulevard (1450 South) to Crosby Way, $6.3 million for a state Route 7 (Southern Parkway) trail project, $5.75 million for an east access road to Tech Ridge, and $5.4 million for the continuing 3000 East road widening project from 1580 South to Seegmiller Drive.
Various water infrastructure projects outlined in the budget include $9 million for the Graveyard Wash reservoir for the city’s secondary water system and $8.3 million for new and replacement water tanks that include the County Club tank, Divario storage tank and old industrial storage tank. Wastewater projects will see $500,000 go to up-sizing main lines and $450,000 go to the relocation of sewer mains to public streets and connecting lateral lines from homes to new main lines.
The city’s wastewater treatment plant, which treats approximately 12 million gallons of wastewater daily, has projects related to the up-sizing or replacement of various lines that run $7.2 million, with another $2.7 million being used for the rehabilitation of clarifiers in the treatment plant.
SunTran, the city’s transit service, has a budget of nearly $9.5 million and is mostly funded through federal grants that can cover 50-80% of the operating and capital overlay cost. The pending budget includes funding for the start of the new St. George to Springdale route, as well as $5 million for the building of a new transit center and $1 million for staffing.
The St. George Regional Airport’s budget for 2025 is $17.7 million and includes funding toward the airport’s continuing terminal apron expansion and reconstruction project, south connector taxiway and highly sought-after air traffic control tower.
Recreation projects and improvements include $1 million for the Virgin River South Trail (Springs Park to Mall Drive) and $250,000 for a portion of that trail running from Bloomington to Interstate 15. These projects are being funded through impact fees.
Other recreation-based projects, which would be funded through the general obligation bond, include $2.5 million for the Las Colinas Park project and $1.8 million from the second phase of Springs Parks. Seven other parks will see playground equipment replacements and other improvements moving forward.
One of the city’s major building projects includes the construction of the new City Hall on Main Street and its accompanying parking structure. The project has $21.7 million going toward it in the pending budget.
Public safety highlights
In the realm of public safety is the building of a new fire station, hiring new personnel and providing them the tools they need to do their jobs.
Staff-wise, the city is looking to hire nine new police officers and a public safety technician, complete with vehicles and equipment, for $2.1 million.
The replacement of 22 public safety vehicles is also on the budget for $1.5 million, while $628,000 would go toward the replacement of personal protective gear and self-contained breathing apparatus for firefighters.
Under the proposed budget, the city’s Fire Department would see $6.7 million put toward the building and relocation of Fire Station 1, $1.5 million for the completion of Station 10 in Desert Canyons and $400,000 for the design of a new fire station in the Tonaquint area.
An estimated $150,000 is going toward the design of the St. George Police headquarters remodel project. The Police Department is slated to expand into the original city offices on 200 East once the new city hall is complete.
The complete St. George City 2024-25 budget can be found on the city’s budget page here.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.