• Mona City approves amended budget and 2022-2023 budget

• Turf field is laid in The Hive; additional projects nearing completion

• JSD will hold Truth in Taxation hearing in August

• Obits

• Classifieds

• Back

• Home

By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent

Mona’s budget for the past year is good and the budget for the coming year is also comfortable.

Mona City Council approved the 2022-2023 budget and the amended budget for 2021-2022 following a public hearing.

“We don’t need to amend the budget for 2021-2022,” said Sara Samuelson, city finance director.

Jay Christensen, mayor pro temp-ore, opened the hearing because Randy Christensen, mayor, was excused for health reasons.

Samuelson said that the biggest chunk of revenue came from taxes.

“The actual property tax in 2021 was $64,652,” said Samuelson. “In the 2022 budget it was $62,000 and in the 2023 budget it is expected to be $80,000.”

“Budget wise, we actually collected 115 percent more than we had planned,” she said.

Property tax is a different beast, said Samuelson. “Utah Law requires that property tax rates automatically adjust when property values increase or decrease so the amount of money the city receives is the same from year to year. The laws are designed to hold property owner’s tax burden at a constant level from year to year unless the taxing entity’s legislative body (the city council) votes to increase the tax through a process of notification and public hearing.”

Truth in Taxation is a process established by the Utah State Legislature where city and county governments and school districts are required to hold a public hearing and inform taxpayers of increases prior to (City Council) voting on them before making changes.

“All of the new houses have given a jump to property tax,” she said. “We are allowed new growth but must not collect more in property tax than we did the year before.

Sales and use tax continues to grow.

Sales tax is collected centrally by the state and then distributed. Utah’s formula for distributing the local sales tax is to give 50 percent of local sales tax revenues to the city where the sale was made, or the “point-of-sale,” and 50 percent to municipalities statewide, based on their proportion of the state population.

The sales and use tax brought in $327,894 in 2021, $280,000 in 2022 and should bring in $365,000 in 2023, she said. PAR (Parks, Arts and Recreation) is new this year and should bring in an anticipated $10,000.

The fee-in-lieu of property tax has risen from $348 in 2021 to $500 in 2023 and other taxes should bring in approximately $9,000.

Money also comes to the city from business licenses, building permits, and animal licenses.

In 2021 building permits brought in $48,034, that went down to $20,000 in 2022 and should increase to $40,000 in 2023.

Class C Road Allotment, county grant money and ARAP (American Rescue Plan Act) are also calculated. ARAP brought $106,930 in 2022 and $107,000 in 2023.

Charges for services brings in revenue through subdivision/annexation fees, inspection fee, burial lots, grave opening/closing, green waste, garbage, green waste reimbursement, Mona Recreation revenue, park and recreation fees, and community service fees.

Interest earned, miscellaneous revenue, park and recreation impact fees, contributions and transfers are all revenue sources.

“The total revenue for the city is $1,067,700 for 2023,” said Samuelson. “It was $780,836 in 2021 and $963,500 in 2022.”

The city also collected grants to help with capital projects. Those grants came from the state and the federal government, she said.

One of those was to pay for the new water tank and for associated improvements.

The income from the water department comes from water sales, pressurized irrigation revenue, connection fees, miscellaneous revenue and field water service. For 2023, the water department is projected to have $345,000 in operating income.

From that, $330,100 is expected to be used for salaries and wages, employee benefits, subscriptions and memberships, fuel/mileage expenses, utilities, professional and tech services, education and training, water costs, rent to those in pool shares, irrigation company payments, materials and supplies, water postage, contractual services, water sample testing, operation expenses and depreciation costs.

“The sewer system has, historically, not made money,” said Samuelson. “We are looking at a loss next year.”

The city has an impact fee now, but still loss is being projected for the coming year. The city expects to have more operating expenses than it has revenue by $346,301 in 2023.

However, said Samuelson, the city council agreed to a transfer of funds that wiped the slate clean.

The gas system is expected to make money from residential and commercial consumers, from connection and reconnection fees and from other gas revenues.

In 2021, those income fees amounted to $454,788, in 2022, to $381,500 and are expected to be $405,500 in 2023. Total expenses are expected to be $320,100 for a gain of $85,400.

“I appreciate all of the ideas you (council members) put in,” said Samuelson. “We will have a bit of leeway. I feel good about the budget.”

Jay Mecham, council member, made the motion to adopt the 2022-2023 budget as presented. TJ Pace made the second and the motion passed unanimously.

The hearing was then closed and regular council meeting was opened.