A third revision of the 2022 fiscal year budget was approved by the Spanish Fork City Council during their meeting Tuesday.

One of several changes approved was adding $95,000 to the police department budget and $20,000 for building inspectors to receive immediate wage increases.

City Manager Seth Perrins said adjustments are needed due to significant market increases on employee wages.

“It is worth noting that we are not proposing to adjust all full-time employees with these ranges in July,” Perrins said. “It’s what we would call a market adjustment because we were significantly behind in these ranges already. In the new 2023 budget, we propose raises for all employees, but this change is needed now to prevent losing employees because of better pay elsewhere.”

The revision proposed immediate raises to two employee groups. The officers and inspectors will see the adjustment on their first paycheck in May.

Hiring an assistant to the city manager was supposed to be budgeted into the 2023 fiscal year, according to Perrins, but the city’s ideal candidate would be available after graduation in May, so the city decided to secure the hiring now.

The city’s power and light division needed approval to put a 10% down payment, approximately $218,000, on two 138kV transformers. The down payment was needed due to the high demand of the transformers, according to Perrins.

“These transformers cost a $1 million, so we got in line for two of them,” he said. “The company used to let you order them without paying upfront. Recently they changed the policy, and now we have to place a deposit to secure our spot in line.”

The city doesn’t expect to receive the transformers until 2024.

Additionally, $30,000 was put back into the Parks and Recreation budget after planned organizational changes did not go through.

“We approved two adjustments for two positions in January, but we weren’t ready for it organizationally, so we removed all of the funds,” said Perrins. “We’ve determined we can make these changes in May, so we put some of the funds back into the budget.”

A $3,500 master plan layout study of the Spanish Fork Airport will begin in May, two months sooner than originally planned.