Lehi's budget broke the $100 million mark on Tuesday when council members unanimously approved a 72 percent increase.

A $35.2 million Economic Development Agency budget, spurred by the development and growth of IM Flash Technologies, is the cause of most of the hike. Initially, the 2006-2007 municipal budget was approved at $60.4 million. It is now $104 million.

The EDA's budget comes from the company involved. The company loans the agency the money for infrastructure improvements needed because of the impact the business has on the community, said Councilman James Dixon. Then property taxes generated by the increase in the property's value are returned to the company over a set period of years.

"We have the largest EDA in the state with IM Flash Technologies," said Jamie Davidson, Lehi city administrator.

"We are talking millions of dollars versus the thousands of dollars we used to talk about," said Councilman Johnny Barnes, noting that in 1988 the city budget was $1.9 million.

Lehi and Micron established the EDA in 1994 to fund building necessary infrastructure in the area impacted by the company.

The area was dormant until 2005, when Micron and Intel created IM Flash Technologies as a joint venture and chose the Lehi plant as its corporate headquarters. The EDA allows for up to approximately $80 million over its lifetime, which sunsets in 2028.

The EDA board was reactivated in May 2006 and the total amount for its budget was established by the group but wasn't project specific. Progress on the EDA budget directly affects the city budget.

Some of the projects the city's finance director Ron Foggin listed for the EDA budget are $19 million for power substation upgrades, $7 million for water projects, $1 million for road projects and $6.3 million for property and easements.

Micron established its Lehi complex in the early 1990s for manufacturing memory chips but the international company put completion of its plant site on hold because of fluctuating economic conditions.

Other increases included a bookkeeping item, incorporating the debt service fund, $4.2 million, into the general fund. Ron Foggin, finance director, said the debt service fund was a "good old boys" method of tracking debt left over from when the city was younger and smaller.

"We're doing away with the debt service fund," Foggin said. "We are going to track debt in the actual department that owns the debt."

Charges for services were increased, adding to city expenses such as the IM Flash project inspections, county dispatch costs, additional personnel and new parks expense. The price of the Traverse Mountain Park was $1.1 million and a payment of $100,000 was made for the Peck Park. There was also a $100,000 budget to get the outdoor pool open for June.

Some of the increases in the budget were offset by unexpected increased revenue. Property tax revenue was forecast lower than actual and impact fee revenue was higher than expected, he said. "It's pretty much increases in all sources of revenue."

The bulk of the increase in revenue and spending is caused by growth within the city.

"It's hard to set a budget in July and anticipate nothing is going to change when you're growing 15-20 percent a year," Davidson said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1.