On the heels of a 48% property tax hike in 2025, the county does not plan on raising taxes this year. Perhaps because of that, Wednesday’s meeting went without any public comment.

The budget projects more than a $10 million increase in general fund revenue, for a total general fund budget of $168,850,710. The growth comes largely from a projected $4 million increase in property tax revenue to approximately $89.2 million, and a projected $4.2 million increase in county option sales tax revenue to $55.5 million.

On the other side of the ledger, there are proposed increases in personnel funds in several departments.

The attorney’s office has a proposed $818,986 increase for personnel, the sheriff’s office enforcement division has a proposed $513,303 increase, and the sheriff’s office corrections division has a proposed $471,724 increase.

The elections personnel fund is projected to grow by $367,128, and the public works administration personnel fund by $337,585.

Utah County Human Resources Director Ralph Barnes added during the meeting that there are existing funds in the budget they hope to use to approve a pay increase for county department heads and elected officials of up to 2%.

“I will make a recommendation early in January of what that may look like,” Barnes said. “Of course, it’s totally up to the commission what is done. We want to hopefully use real-time data as close as possible to the time that we’re actually making that increase.”

The commission voted 2-1 in March to approve a 2.5% pay raise for county employees and a 2% pay raise for elected county officials for 2025.