Pleasant Grove City Administrator Scott Darrington explained the property tax increase would have paid for $329,000 of the bond payment and would also have funded a new librarian and public safety.

Despite the tax increase being rejected, Darrington previously told the Daily Herald city officials would be finding other ways to fund the Cook Family Park, which was included in the bond payment, and other needs in the city.

Mayor Guy Fugal previously told the Daily Herald that no money would be taken from the $4.5 million set aside specifically for the roads program, saying the roads program simply would not receive additional funding from the general fund this year.

Last Wednesday, the City Council approved a budget amendment for the 2024 fiscal year to move $600,000 from the road fund into the general fund for the 2024 fiscal year. As Darrington explained, “The $600,000 general fund transfer to the road fund has built up over the past 10 years. Each year, the City Council would decide to keep allocating that money from the general fund into the road fund.” The $600,000 is not part of the $4.5 million that is specifically collected for road funds, he added.

During the public hearing Wednesday, nearly a dozen residents expressed their disapproval of the council moving money from the road fund into the general fund. They explained collectedly that when they voted no on the property tax increase, it was because they wanted money to go toward roads instead of toward the bond to pay for the Cook Family Park.

“In talking with thousands of (Pleasant Grove) residents as we gathered signatures and campaigned against the tax increase, the No. 1 statement we heard from residents was that the city needs to fix the roads first,” said John St. Clair, who led the signature gathering effort to get the property tax increase on the ballot. “It seems disingenuous that the city would move funds from roads to other purposes and not look for other expenses to cut. The city can make excuses as to why the tax increase failed but the truth is the voters were sending a message to the city and so far the mayor and city council are not listening.”

According to Darrington, the reasoning for recommending the budget amendment was partly because of new funding that Pleasant Grove received specifically for roads this year. In addition, he said, having the money in the general fund gives the council flexibility on how they decide to use it — whether for roads, bond payments, staff salary or something else.

“I think this money is better served for us to help fund other services just beside our roads because our road funding is now $4.5 million a year,” Darrington said. “So that’s what was driving me and my recommendation to the City Council.” He explained the $4.5 million revenue is made up of class C revenue, transportation utility fees and quarter-cent sales tax instituted by Utah County.

The transportation utility fee started in May 2023 and the quarter-cent sales tax, which is proportionally allotted to cities and must be used for transportation, began at the start of the new year, meaning nearly half of the $4.5 million is new money allocated to roads that the city did not have nine months ago, Darrington said.

“The thinking of the city is we are now funded at the highest level we’ve ever been funded for roads,” Darrington said.

The $600,000 is now part of the general fund, Darrington said, but the council has not yet decided what it will go toward.

The city makes a payment twice a fiscal year for the bond payment, covering principal and interest. The first payment was made in December; the next payment is due June 1, though the source of the payment has yet to be solidified, Darrington said. The city just needs to allocate money to cover the $329,000 remaining of the total yearly payment of $2.3 million.

At the hearing, residents also expressed frustration about what they described as the council’s lack of transparency when the $36 million bond was first passed in early 2023, $15 million of which went to pay for the Cook Family Park.

Of the $2.3 million yearly bond payment, nearly $1 million goes toward the park — two-thirds of which is paid by the city and one-third by the Cook family, who are the donors of the Cook Family Park. The Cook family’s portion, $329,000, is the remaining part of the bond payment that would have been covered by the property tax increase. The other part of the bond payment is accounted for and committed annually.

To cover the remaining payment for the 2024 fiscal year, Darrington said the city will have to use funds from another source. He explained they are exploring different options for how to come up with this money. For the 2025 fiscal year, he added, they plan to find a way to fund it annually rather than having to come up with the money each year.

Darrington said it has not yet been decided how the $329,000 will be paid for or what the long-term solution will be. However, he explained the overall long-term solution is to have the money set aside in the operational budget, which comes from the general fund, to be used each year.

The only City Council member to vote no to the budget amendment was Steve Rogers, who is serving his first term after being elected in November.

Explaining his reasoning for not supporting the amendment, Rogers said while he trusts the council and the city administrator and believes they are competent people who care about the city, “The thing that I’ve been grappling with is that we had a majority of our citizens vote no on essentially giving the city this money into what we are proposing to use the money for, and that is a tough thing for me to go against.”

While not every eligible voter participated in the election, Rogers added, “Even if 100 people showed up, the reality is there were 3,533 people who voted no. They voted no on doing exactly what we are trying to do here today.”

Rogers said he could not change the way people voted, no matter what his personal opinion may be on the way the money should be allocated. However, he added, “It’s improper for me to ignore the majority of the votes that came in in the election. … I cannot ignore the voice of the people, and that’s what’s difficult because I really respect these people (city council and staff) and I really respect our directors, and I understand the reasoning for the proposed amendment, but I also understand my proper role, and my proper role is to respect what I view as the voice of the people.”

In addition to the $4.5 million in road funds, due to one-time funding the city received, Pleasant Grove will be spending $8.5 million on roads for the 2024 fiscal year and still have $3 million left in the roads fund, which will roll over to next year. The $4.5 million is an annual revenue the city will receive each year for roads. Darrington explained three reasons they are not spending the entire road fund this year: “One, we may need to save up to do a larger project. Two, we may have an unanticipated project we need to do. Three, some road projects need the water or sewer line replaced and those funds are limited as well. So even though we have enough for the road on top, we might not have enough to replace the infrastructure below the road.”

He said that no road projects will be canceled because the $600,000 was put into the general fund.

On Feb. 9 a three-year roads plan will be unveiled to the City Council at its annual budget and planning meeting, then released to the public. It will project which roads will be updated for the next two years and show the work that was finished this previous year. However, Darrington said residents should be aware that the plan could change due to unforeseen circumstances or priority changes. For that same reason, he said, the city cannot release a roads plan that is longer than two projected years.