Lehi was forced to cancel a vote on the city's $81 million annual budget last week when council members failed to show for a meeting.

Councilman Mark Johnson and Mayor Howard Johnson were the only elected representatives to show up on time for a presentation by city staff on the 2007-2008 fiscal budget totaling $81.1 million. Council members were expected to vote on the budget after the presentation.

"I want to thank you all for coming out today ... this meeting is canceled," quipped assistant administrator Ron Foggin.

Councilman Johnny Revill arrived 48 minutes into the meeting from an emergency dental appointment, but that still left the city one council member short of a quorum. According to state law, the mayor is only allowed to vote to break a tie.

Two of the missing council members, James Dixon and Stephen Holbrook, were out of town, said city staffers, and the predicted incoming wind storm had Councilman Johnny Barnes, a Rocky Mountain Power employee, working overtime in Salt Lake County.

Since there were no residents to hear the budget presentation, council members discussed re-advertising the public hearing for the budget for June 12. Council members are expected to vote on the budget at that meeting.

State law maintains the municipal budgets for July 1 to June 30, 2008, must be approved by the council by June 22.

Foggin said the budget as proposed remained the same except for a few changes.

"The power department failed to make a purchase in the last fiscal year, so we moved the amount to the capital budget for power for the upcoming year," he said. "It's important because when they turn on lights, they want lights."

Another sizable budget item was $14.5 million in the Redevelopment Agency budget, with most of those millions slated for IM Flash Technologies infrastructure projects.

"I would guess that number will be up a little bit based on when they get their projects done," Foggin said of IM Flash Technologies.

A budget carry-over from the year before was an investment in park property.

"The city is making a significant investment in parks, close to $3 million," Foggin said. "The city is pretty well committed to open space in Lehi."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B2.