Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Provided Information - 10/7/2025CITY COUNCIL OF SALT LAKE CITY 451 SOUTH STATE STREET, ROOM 304 P.O. BOX 145476, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84114-5476 SLCCOUNCIL.COM TEL 801-535-7600 FAX 801-535-7651 COUNCIL STAFF REPORT CITY COUNCIL of SALT LAKE CITY TO:City Council Members FROM: Jennifer Bruno, Lehua Weaver, DATE: October 7, 2025 RE: FY 2026 Budget Amendment #2 PROJECT TIMELINE: ISSUE AT-A-GLANCE Budget Amendment #2 includes 34 proposed amendments, including $71,326,282 in revenues and $137,008,677 in expenditures, including $913,000 from the General Fund. The amendment proposes changes in 15 funds and adds 4.0 FTE’s. One is related to a proposed reclassification in Police and three pertain to the Utah Office of Victims of Crime grant for the Prosecutor’s Office. With the adoption of Budget Amendment #2, the available fund balance will be 12.71 percent of the FY 2026 Adopted Budget. If the items are adopted as proposed, then Fund Balance would be $1,498,933 below the 13% minimum target. As indicated by the Administration, a revenue update and projection will be provided with Budget Amendment #3. No updates or modifications from the FY26 Adopted Budget are proposed at this time. Finance staff will be preparing a revised revenue forecast with the close of September revenues, which will be made available in late October. Updated Fund Balance numbers and percentages can be found on the table on page 2 of this report. STRAW POLL REQUESTS The Administration has requested straw polls for the following items: 1.A-2 National League of Cities Summit Costs 2.A-6 Modification of Appointed Position in Police Department Updated Fund Balance Chart The table below presents updated Fund Balance numbers and percentages based on the proposed changes included in Budget Amendment #2. Page | 3 ADDITIONAL & BACKGROUND INFORMATION A-1: Youth & Family Funding Due to Loss of Grant. (General Fund One-time $350,000) Page | 4 This one-time allocation from Fund Balance would sustain current service levels and programming for three middle school programs—in Glendale, Central City, and Rose Park—after the loss of the Teen Afterschool Prevention (TAP) grant, from the State Department of Workforce Services (DWS), for students in grades 7 and 8. The Division has received the grant for the past nine years (three funding cycles) but did not this year because statewide allocations from the Federal government dropped and DWS shifted its priority to rural areas. The $350,000 amount also would ensure that the School-Age Quality (SAQ) grant, which funds Youth & Family programs for elementary school children, will remain in compliance with Child Care Licensing standards. A-2: National League of Cities Annual Cities Summit Costs (General Fund One-time $300,000) A-3: Elected Officials Transition Costs (General Fund One-time $45,000) A-4: 1200 East Median Restoration 300 South to 500 South (CIP Fund – One-time $722,250 and Impact Fees – One-time $232,470) -Park Impact Fees: $232,470 -Rescope of FY2024 CIP Complete Streets Funding: $351,000 -FY2025 CIP Irrigation System Replacement Funding: $371,250. NOTE: the 300 South to 400 South blocks were included in the approved FY2025 CIP application, and this reappropriation extends the irrigation replacement to 500 South. This funding will fully fund the $954,720 request included in CIP Project #25. The separate CIP application requesting public art for this area is not included in this proposed funding. If approved, construction will occur in 2026 or 2027. A-5: Modification of Appointed Position at Police (General Fund – Ongoing $0) Page | 5 The Administration is requesting a modification to an appointed position in the Police Department. Specifically, the proposal updates the title of the Communications Administrative Director to Civilian Chief of Staff. Additionally, the job description will be updated. A-6: Reclassification of Police Appointed Position to 2.0 FTEs (General Fund – ongoing $0) (1)Communications Coordinator – Social Media Content (2)Communications Coordinator – Communications Specialist A-7: Utah Inland Port Authority Funding - Transfer to CIP (CIP Fund – One-time $180,000) In accordance with the relevant donation and funding agreements, the Inland Port has provided $180,000 to the City to support the expansion of the Trainfo system. These funds need to be transferred to CIP for expenditure. This marks the second contribution from Inland Port funds toward this initiative. Subject to future actions under the applicable agreements, additional funding may be available in subsequent years. If received, future funds will be used to support the system’s expansion and ongoing operational costs, such as software licenses, maintenance, and repairs. Page | 6 A-8: Airgas Funding to Transportation - Transfer to CIP (CIP Fund – One-time $70,000) To help address ongoing street racing issues in front of their facility, Airgas has provided $70,000 to the City for street modifications. These funds must be transferred to CIP for expenditure. The total cost for installing two speed tables is $115,365. The remaining balance will be covered using either Livable Streets Quick Action funds or Vision Zero funds. The Administration has previously partnered with other businesses to install similar speed tables on Ninigret Drive, which have proven effective in deterring street racing. A-9: Take-Home Vehicle Insurance Policy Premium Adjustment (Government Immunity Fund - Ongoing $94,791) The Administration is requesting $94,791 to fund increased insurance premium costs for the Take-Home Vehicle Program. When the FY25 budget was adopted, $200,000 was appropriated based on a December 2024 estimate. However, due to losses incurred between the estimate and the July 1 renewal, the actual premium increased to $294,791. The proposed allocation will fund the difference. Additionally, this will represent an ongoing cost to the Government Immunity Fund. There may be continued increases to the premium, however, without actual data, it’s difficult to confirm whether there will be a continued increase, but it is dependent on the necessary use of the policy. In Fiscal Year 2027 the policy will be re-evaluated. Safety programs are being implemented throughout the City to mitigate the risk of accidents relating to take home city vehicles. A-10: CBIA-25 Budget (Misc. Special Revenue Fund - Ongoing $2,500,000) In April 2025, the Council adopted an ordinance re-establishing the Central Business Improvement Assessment Area (CBIA-25) for an additional three-year term. Due to the timing of the adoption, the budget was unable to be set during the City’s annual budgeting process. The Administration requests $2.5 million to support the special assessment in its first year. The total amount recognizes both the estimated revenue and expenses based on what the City has raised since the establishment of CBIA-25. Most of these funds will be paid to the contractor responsible for economic promotion. Additionally, $151,200 will be allocated for the City’s administrative fee. $185,630 will be held in a reserve account. A-11: Assistance for Airport Federal Partners Due to Government Shutdown (Airport Fund One- time $100,000) Due to the federal government shutdown that began on October 1st, the Administration is requesting authorization to use $100,000 in existing Airport funds to purchase food, household supplies, and gas cards to support Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel at the airport. These employees are expected to continue working without pay during the shutdown. The Council may recall a similar request made in 2019, when assistance was also provided to support our TSA partners. With the recent expansion of the airport and an increase in passenger traffic at security checkpoints, the need for support is even greater. Based on guidance from legal counsel, the Administration is seeking City Council approval and endorsement of using existing funds in this way; no new funds are being requested. Page | 7 Section B: Grants for Existing Staff Resources None None The Department of Economic Development (DED) requests that the remaining Construction Mitigation Fund balance of $168,000 be carried from FY25 Budget Amendment #5 to FY26. The Council allocated $270,000 as part of Budget Amendment #5 in FY25, and DED deployed $102,000 to impacted businesses before the end of FY25. The remaining $168,000 is anticipated to support 56 additional grants of $3000 to qualifying businesses impacted by specific construction sites. The Construction Mitigation Grant Program aims to help retain businesses during critical and necessary infrastructure upgrades. As part of FY26, the Council approved $350,000 for the program. This $168,000 amount would be in addition to the previous allocation. IMS is requesting to use $159,414 to bring 22 positions within cybersecurity, system engineering, project management, data privacy, and directors of technology services up to the market rate for FY26, as recommended in the 2025 Citizens’ Compensation Advisory Committee (CCAC) report. The allocation is proposed to come from IMS's fund balance. IMS has requested to carry forward $2,241,881 from their FY25 budget to cover expenses and contracts that were funded but not fully paid in FY25. These include office equipment and software expenses where the transaction timing did not align with the City's fiscal year. The ongoing expense has been moved from the Mayor's Office to IMS to reflect IMS's management of contracts with language access service providers and translation assistance. The Mayor's Office decrease was reflected in the FY26 budget, but the corresponding increase was omitted. This amendment corrects that omission. No decrease or disruption in translation service access is anticipated. This is a budget carry-forward to pay outstanding financial obligations that were encumbered in FY25 and will be paid in FY26. Rather than representing a single project amount, the total reflects equipment purchases totaling $437,666 (mostly related to care for the greens and surrounding areas) plus $519,476 in facility improvements and repairs. The four largest individual expenses are: Bonneville Range Fence $158,435 Forest Dale Roof $131,430 Mountain Dell Stairs $123,971 Forest Dale Simulators $105,900 TOTAL $519,476 D-6: Green Bike Expansion (CIP Fund – One-time $608,290) Page | 8 UDOT has awarded the City $608,290 in federal funding to support the expansion of the Green Bike Program. The City is required to provide a local match of $44,172. This funding will support the addition of approximately nine new Green Bike stations, which will include bicycles. D-7: Interest on General Obligation and Sales Tax Bonds CIP Fund One-time $6,355,027) D-8: Fleet Fund Budget Carry Forward (Fleet Fund One-time $13,202,498) D-9: CIP Holding Account Release for Security Services (CIP Fund – One-time $414,753) 1.Washington Square Safety Enhancement Project – Cultural Landscape Report and Implementation Design Total: $380,000 Cultural Landscape Report – $80,000 The Use and Conservancy Board provided Mayor Mendenhall a recommendation to perform a Cultural Landscape Report, estimated to cost $80,000. The report will ensure that any proposed security enhancements are context-sensitive and preserve the site's historic integrity. Project Implementation Design Phase – $300,000 The design plans will integrate vehicle ramming mitigation measures into Washington Square’s aesthetic and culturally significant layout. 2.Wireless Door Release System Total: $34,753.24 Several departments have requested wireless door release systems. The system will allow employees to remotely unlock secured doors via a computer and/or phone application. The intent is to reduce face-to- face interactions in unpredictable situations. The wireless door release system will increase employee safety and reduce confrontational incidents. Page | 9 D-10: Public Utilities Budget Carry Forward (Water Fund One-time $66,849,851, Sewer Fund one-time $12,083,142, Storm Water Fund one-time $7,349,551, Street Lighting Fund one-time $1,327,234) The request also includes funding associated with the Department’s Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs), Series 2025B, for which the Council adopted a parameters resolution for during its Sept. 2 formal meeting. As a reminder, the BANs are intended to finance the acquisition of property for the department’s future campus. This housekeeping budget amendment for the Department of Public Utilities would carry forward funding for items from the FY25 budget. These items include grant proceeds, capital purchases, and projects that were in process during the prior fiscal year but were not completed by the end of FY25. The request also includes funding associated with the department's Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs), Series 2025B, for which the Council adopted a parameters resolution during its Sept. 2 formal meeting. The BANs are intended to finance the acquisition of property for the department's future campus. Public Utilities indicated that the $50 million BANs and associated issuance costs will initially be fully accounted for in the department's Water Fund, which explains the high total amount in the Water Fund. The department intends to evaluate the allocation of these funds to determine the appropriate distribution across other funds. Upon a clear definition of the allocation, Public Utilities will prepare the necessary budget changes in a future budget amendment or in its FY27 budget. Replacement funding for the City’s Volunteers of America (VOA) contract was inadvertently left out of the FY26 budget deliberations when the City’s State Mitigation Grant funding was shifted to PD-related items for FY26. The Housing Stability Division in CAN (the Community and Neighborhoods Department) used $100,500 of FY25 Funding Our Future funds to pay this contract for the first three months of FY26. The remainder of the amount needed to keep this item budget-neutral, $301,500, is proposed to come from not-yet-contracted FY26 Funding Our Future funds from the Tenant Housing Assistance budget. The VOA contract pays for street outreach and the salary of a Safety and Community Liaison for the Homeless Resource Centers (HRCs). The Liaison conducts outreach to businesses and residents near the HRCs to address concerns related to homelessness. In future years, CAN proposes splitting this item into two separate contracts, one of $240,627 for VOA and the other of $60,873 for Shelter the Homeless. This would facilitate shifting the Liaison position from VOA to Shelter the Homeless, which provides services (like maintaining building systems and security) that are more closely related to the core responsibilities of the Liaison. The Liaison’s coverage area would grow to include a half-mile radius around the HRCs, the Youth Resource Center, the YWCA, the Weigand Homeless Resource Center, and St. Vincent de Paul. CAN further requests that in the future this function be paid by the General Fund. Council Policy Question. Does the Council agree with the Administration’s proposal to shift $301,500 from the Tenant Housing Assistance budget to cover the FY26 VOA contract? The Sustainability Department is requesting $9,350,559 for the Refuse Fund annual encumbrance balance carry forward budget. Budget is required to pay the outstanding financial obligations that have been obligated and carried forward from FY25 to FY26. The majority of this amount (approximately $8.9 million) is for fleet vehicles for the Waste & Recycling Division. Broken out by division, $9,142,905 is for Sustainability’s Waste & Recycling Division and $207,654 for the Environment & Energy Division. D-13: CIP Housekeeping (CIP Fund – One-time $678,600 and $3,900,000) Page | 10 FY2025 Parks Impact Fees – Revenue and Expenditure Adjustment In the FY2025 Adopted Budget, Parks Impact Fee revenue was under reported by $678,600. While sufficient impact fees existed, the funds were not recognized as a revenue or expenditure in the Council Key Changes approved in June 2024; however, the funds were allocated in the August 2024 approval. This Budget Amendment increases the revenue by that amount to reflect the correct total. These funds have already been allocated to the Fairmont Park basketball court project. This amendment formally recognizes both the revenue and associated expenditure in the budget. Two corrections are needed for how funds from the Fleet Block property sale were budgeted in FY2025: 1. The funds should have been transferred from the CIP Surplus Land Fund (Fund 3039) to the CIP General Fund (Fund 3000). 2. The expenditure was incorrectly treated as a project rescope rather than a new appropriation from the Surplus Land Fund Balance. This Budget Amendment corrects both issues by transferring the funds appropriately and establishing the correct expenditure amount of $3,900,000 within Fund 3000. UDOT has awarded the City $608,290 in federal funding to support the expansion of the Green Bike Program. The City is required to provide a local match of $44,172. This funding will support the addition of approximately nine new Green Bike stations, which will include bicycles. The UDOT funds are currently held in the Miscellaneous Grants Fund and must be transferred to CIP for expenditure. CAN was notified recently of an error in HUD’s calculation of 2023 and 2024 HOME-ARP awards. The City did not include funding contingencies in the HOME-ARP awards at the time because no change was anticipated in the amount. The Department proposes allocating this additional $5,284 to the Asian Association of Utah, which received the highest score in this category in the category of Tenant-Based Rental Assistance. CAN was notified recently that Salt Lake City’s FY26 HOPWA award is $26,832 over what was projected earlier. Per the contingencies approved in the Department’s estimated award amount, the Division of Housing Stability will receive an additional $804 for administration of these funds. Then, since the two HOPWA funding recipients both received more than their requested amounts for FY26, the Division proposes the remaining $26,028 be allocated to the highest-scoring of the two awardees, Utah Community Action. The organization has confirmed that the additional funds will allow them to serve approximately five more households with short- term rent or mortgage assistance, utility assistance, and/or supportive services. None Section G: Council Consent Agenda – Grant Awards G-1: VOCA Grant Victim Services for the Prosecutor' s Office (Misc Grants – One-time $596,025) The Salt Lake City Prosecutor's Office applied for and received a Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant. This grant is for two years. The funded items include: 1) Fully funding an existing victim advocate. 2) The Prosecutor's office will hire two additional Victim Advocates and will pay 100% of their salary and benefits. 3) Funding for mental health workshops for victims. 4) Funding for travel and training for staff. 5) Emergency funds for victims and finally, 6) Page | 11 Funding for the VSTracking software license to track statistics. The job posting for the two additional Victim Advocates will indicate the funding limitations, and that the positions could be removed should no funding be obtained after the two -year period. The public hearing was held April 15, 2025. G-2: VOCA Grant Victim Services Police Department (Misc Grants – One-time $256,518) The Salt Lake City Police Department applied for and received a VOCA grant. This grant is for two years. This grant will pay for existing Victim Advocates. The grant has also provided funding for the previous year’s Victim Advocate costs. The total funded per year is $128,259 of which $105,468 is salary and $22,791 is benefits for part time victim advocates. The positions have been previously funded by the grant and if this grant is not renewed in future years, the positions will not be able to continue. The public hearing was held May 20, 2025 G-3: Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (Misc Grants – One-time $579,834) G-4: Bureau of Emergency Medical Service (BEMS) (Misc Grants – One-time $9,029) G-5 SFSP Summer Food Service Program Summer 2025 (Misc Grants – One-time $6,500) G-6: School-Age Program State of Utah, Department of Workforce Services (Misc Grants – One- time $1,368,000) G-7: Salt Lake County YAGI Grant (Misc Grants – One-time $33,900) Section I: Council Added Items None ATTACHMENTS 1. New Ongoing Costs to the General Fund 2. Civilian Chief of Staff Job Description Page | 12 3. Internal Affairs Director Job Description ACRONYMS BEMS – Bureau of Emergency Service CAFR – Comprehensive Annual Financial Report CAN – Department of Community & Neighborhoods FTE – Full time Employee / Equivalent FY – Fiscal Year HOME – ARP – The HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan Program HOPWA – Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS HUD – Housing & Urban Development GF – General Fund IMS – Information Management Services OST – Out of School Time SFSP –Summer Food Service Program VOCA – Victims of Crime Act VSTRACKING – Victim Services Tracking Software YAGI – Youth Advocacy Grant Initiative Page | 13 Attachment 1: New Ongoing Costs to the General Fund Council staff has provided the following list of potential new ongoing costs to the General Fund. Many of these are new FTE’s approved during this fiscal year’s budget amendments, noting that each new FTE increases the City’s annual budget costs if positions are added to the staffing document. Note that some items in the table below are partially or fully funded by grants. If a grant continues to be awarded to the City in future years, then there may not be a cost to the General Fund but grant funding is not guaranteed year-over-year. Budget Amendment Item Potential Cost to FY2026 Annual Budget Full Time Employ ee (FTEs) Notes BAM#2 D-3 IMS Fund Budget Carry Forward $159,414 Ongoing -0-CCAC recommended funding for multiple departments to address compensation for positions lagging behind market rate. Changes & funding weren’t included in annual budget. D-4 Language Access Transfer from Mayor’s Office $50,000 Ongoing -0- Contract language access services funding was inadvertently left out of IMS budget when it was transferred from Mayor’s to IMS during the annual budget. TOTAL $209,414 Attachment 2: Civilian Chief of Staff Job Description Page | 14 Page | 15 Page | 15 Page | 16 Page | 17 Attachment 3: Internal Affairs Director Job Description Page | 18