After a $1.7 million reserve drop, Cottonwood Heights moved to raise property taxes, then to cut the increase
Cottonwood Heights' General Fund balance fell $1,695,491 in fiscal 2025. A July 2026 staff memo cited that decline in proposing a $3.5 million property tax increase. An Aug. 18 council agenda says the levy was approved Aug. 11 and proposes cutting the increase from 42% to 25%; the final signed ordinances have not been reviewed.
Continuing story: Auditing Cottonwood Heights
Cottonwood Heights' General Fund, which pays for police, public works and general government, ended fiscal 2025 with $1,695,491 less than it started, according to the city's audited budget-and-actual statement. Revenues of $26,107,292 exceeded expenditures of $22,881,739, but $4,921,044 in net transfers to other funds took the balance from $7,608,902 to $5,913,412. [1]
Revenues came in $531,439 below the final budget, including sales tax $498,185 below budget. [1] At June 30, 2025, $5,137,815 of the balance was unassigned, and the fund held $4,649,080 in cash and cash equivalents. [2]
The proposed increase
A July 14, 2026 staff memo from Budget Officer Scott Jurges on the "2026/2027 Proposed Adopted Budget," filed with the state, says the budget "includes a proposed property tax increase of $3,500,000." [3]
The memo says actual expenditures and transfers exceeded revenues and other sources by $1,695,491 in fiscal 2025 and were projected to do so by $1,913,412 in fiscal 2026, and that this trend "is the basis for the need to make a property tax increase." [3]
The memo projected a General Fund balance of about $4,000,000 at June 30, 2026, a projection rather than an audited figure. It proposed a total city tax rate of 0.001801, against the 2026 certified rate of 0.001268, and estimated the increase at about $249.18 a year on an $850,000 home. [4] The notice of proposed tax increase in the same file says city tax on an $850,000 residence would rise from $592.79 to $841.97. [5]
The later agenda
The amended agenda for an Aug. 18, 2026 council business meeting lists Ordinance 2026-473 to adopt a reduced final tax levy and rate, superseding Ordinance 2026-471, which it says was approved Aug. 11, 2026, "to reduce the adopted property tax increase from 42% to 25%." [6]
A second item, also numbered Ordinance 2026-473, would adopt an amended final budget superseding Ordinance 2026-472, also listed as approved Aug. 11, and make reductions in departmental expenditures to balance the General Fund. [6]
The Oct. 20, 2026 council agendas include approval of the Aug. 18 meeting minutes, a public hearing on proposed budget amendments for fiscal 2026-27 and Resolution 2026-73, a budget adjustment. [7]
The state's budget repository labels the July 14 file an approved budget, but the document is a proposed budget memo; it is not the operative final budget. The Aug. 18 item is an agenda listing, not a record of a vote, and lists the same ordinance number twice. The percentages describe the change in city property tax revenue, not a household's total property tax bill, which includes other taxing entities. Fund balance is not the same as cash.
Sources
- Cottonwood Heights · FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, General Fund budget and actual
- Cottonwood Heights · FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, governmental funds balance sheet
- Cottonwood Heights · July 14, 2026 FY2026-27 proposed adopted budget memo (state-filed copy)
- Cottonwood Heights · July 14, 2026 FY2026-27 proposed adopted budget memo (state-filed copy), fund balance and property tax
- Cottonwood Heights · Notice of proposed tax increase (in state-filed FY2027 budget file)
- Cottonwood Heights City Council · Amended agendas, Aug. 18, 2026
- Cottonwood Heights City Council · Agendas, Oct. 20, 2026
Reporting by The Utah Ledger from the public records above. AI-assisted, checked against those records.