CEDAR CITY — The Cedar City government was focused on staff, parks, sewer and water, among other priorities, for this fiscal year’s new budget.
The Cedar City Council approved the tentative budget on May 22, budgeting over $30.6 million in expenditures, Cedar City Finance Director Jason Norris told Cedar City News.
“Of that amount, $27,715,645 is ongoing operational spending and $2,911,936 is one-time capital spending,” he wrote in an email.
Cedar City Mayor Garth Green said the city’s staff were a priority this year.
“We labored with this budget for months — literally,” he said. ” And I was concerned from the beginning about inflation and some of the effects it has had on the city employees. And, so you know, I sent out the word that this was going to be a socks and underwear Christmas — and you have to buy your own underwear.”
While Green said the city tried to be “very conservative,” he felt there was a need to compensate the city’s employees “to a level that is quite high.”
The city budgeted an approximate 8.7% increase across the board — 7.2% for cost-of-living increase and 1.5% for merit, Norris said.
“The Mayor’s opinion is that inflation was 4.1% this year and he felt that he underfunded last year’s COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) by 3.1% because he used different inflation numbers than (the consumer price index),” he added.
Green said the “employees seem to be very happy,” and that he hopes the pay increase will help the Cedar City Police Department hire a new officer — a position that was also approved in this budget.
Green said while attempting to hire for some positions, the city didn’t receive any applicants.
“If you’re not getting applications, the price you offer basically says you’re not paying enough money. … I went over the top as far as I was concerned with increases in our city employees to try and keep us competitive with other agencies — other government entities and more important than that to help our employees who are struggling with buying a dozen eggs.”
Norris said the city budgeted $45,000 for its engineering department revamp, which will include new furniture, among other purchases. This is on top of over $400,000 allocated to fund three new positions in the department: assistant city engineer, assistant city planner and public works project inspector.
Over the last few budget cycles, water acquisition was a major focus, which appears to be true again this year. $4 million was designated for a waterline from the planned Mud Springs production well to the Cedar City Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Additionally, the city purchased a radio-read water meter receiving system, which was recently announced in Green’s monthly newsletter. The city plans to spend $200,00 to replace water meters and install a radio read tower.
“This gadget will be placed on a high point (like the top of a water tank) and it can read water meters in the barrels of homes and businesses within its reach,” he wrote. “Then we will concentrate our new meters to change all the meters within its reach to the new receiver thus saving time and expense of reading. We are also told that customers can view their usage on the internet.”
The city allocated over $2 million for sewer improvements and other costs, including $500,000 to upsize a trunk line that would connect with a sewer lift station at the BZI Innovation Park, according to the City Council packet.
Over $4.7 million in additional funding was added to the wastewater treatment plant’s budget to construct a water filtration system, which Norris described as an “important project.”
“The plant will be able to clean the sewer wastewater for re-use and it is a big step for water conservation in the valley,” he said.
The Iron West Soccer Fields received a budget increase of $400,000 this fiscal year, allowing the city to build an irrigation pond and pump station — ideas born out of efforts to protect a nearby eagle family.
An additional $500,000 in capital improvement funding was slated for the north-side park, bringing the total funding to $2,421,203, excluding approximately $500,000 spent on purchasing the commercial and residential lots bordering the park, Norris said.
Approximately $400,000 from parks and recreation impact fees were budgeted to widen trails built by developers in several subdivisions. And $2 million was earmarked for a proposed recreation center, but Norris said any work will need to be approved by the City Council before moving forward.
The city slated $42,000 in capital funding for bus enclosures and benches for the Cedar Area Transportation Service, $75,000 for a new police vehicle, and $45,000 for driver feedback signs and ballistic helmets and plates.
Councilmember R. Scott Phillips spoke in favor of the signs at the May 15 City Council meeting.
“They do make a difference,” he said. “These are the signs you see on the roads that say you’re driving 39 miles an hour in a 30-mile-an-hour speed limit — slow down. And they’re important, and people pay attention.”
The city also budgeted $250,000 for a new Type 1 fire engine for the Cedar City Fire Department, as well as $80,000 for extrication tools and $12,000 for a fire service study, according to the packet.
“That obviously doesn’t pay for the whole (fire) truck,” Norris said. “Again, you’ll be brought a purchase contract at some point in the future and you’ll decide whether or not to move forward on ordering that truck.”
Norris said the public works department’s proposed budget includes $200,000 to construct a road on 100 East and $238,500 to chip seal the road from 900 North to Knoll Street, should the city obtain permission from private property owners. The master-planned road was the focus of now-resolved negotiations between Cedar City and the federal government.
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