The Wasatch County School District could increase its general fund by $11 million for the upcoming fiscal year, without raising property taxes.

The general fund includes expenditures for supplies, textbooks, equipment and professional development, but the biggest piece of the pie is salaries and benefits, which make up about $122 million of the nearly $136 million total. 

All categories of general fund will see some increase in fiscal year 2027.

Some new costs include the school district’s addition of a childcare facility in Deer Creek High School for school district employees to use and increased spending on early literacy programs. The majority of the spending increase, $10 million, will go to salaries and benefits, including 4% raises for employees.

“We have nearly 1,200 employees now. Obviously, our most valuable and most costly resource is our people,” said Business Administrator Jason Watt. “The board has prioritized this in recent years as a way to attract and retain high-quality educators.”

The increase also accounts for new hires at Deer Creek High School, which opens in August. 

While most staffing occurred by divvying up existing Wasatch High School staff between the two schools, some roles necessitated hiring externally. For example, it would be impractical to divide one theater teacher between two high schools. 

Watt said the school district hired eight teachers, as well as custodial and maintenance staff, secretaries, an instructional coach, a librarian, an athletic director, a Hispanic liaison, school resource officers and a nurse.

With the new high school also comes increased spending on transportation, maintenance and utilities. None of that will necessitate an increase in property taxes, which make up about two-thirds of the school district’s budget.

“We have been budgeting for this year for some time,” Watt said. “We are really pleased that we are able to cover those additional costs with existing revenues and will not be approaching the public for additional revenues through the truth in taxation process.”

While general fund expenditures are increasing since the previous fiscal year, the school district will spend less money overall this upcoming fiscal year. The school district spent over $250 million in fiscal year 2026, and estimates spending about $193 million in fiscal year 2027.

The primary reason for that decrease is a reduction in capital project spending. The district spent $111 million last fiscal year — largely to construct Deer Creek High School — and will spend $41 million in the upcoming year.

The school board held a public hearing on June 16, during which two school district employees made comments in support of the budget.

Wasatch High School Assistant Principal Drew Camps Wofford expressed her excitement about Deer Creek High School and the new childcare program while holding her toddler, Scout.

“As a parent, (I’m) super stoked to have kids … in a district where you know that they’re doing the right things to take care of our kids while I’m taking care of other people,” she said.

Wasatch High School agricultural science teacher Kody Clyde thanked the school board for its “continued support and confidence in teachers.”

“I can promise that the teachers will continue to take care of the community’s greatest resource, which is, of course, the students. You will continue to see an increase in student academic performance. I can also assure you that Wasatch will continue to be the best district in the state,” he said. “I personally would like to thank you for my job. I feel so lucky to have the greatest career in the greatest community.”

The school board will meet June 29 at 6:30 p.m. to vote on adopting the budget. The meeting will include an opportunity for public comment.

The post Wasatch County School District to increase spending on salaries, benefits without tax increase appeared first on Park Record.

The first thing taxpayers might notice when reviewing the tentative 2025 Wasatch County budget would be the 35% increase from the previous year. 

That, Heber Lefgren said, is nothing to worry about. Lefgren, the assistant county manager for Wasatch County, said in a council meeting on Wednesday that the bulk of expenditures ramping up the budget from $77.3 million in 2024 to $118.8 million in 2025 can be attributed to two main projects: the expansion on the courthouse and the first-year cost of the new administration building construction.

The new addition on the courthouse, which is in its second year of construction, was predicted to cost $16 million with half paid by the state. This year, the court expansion project will receive $11.6 million. The design and construction of the new three-year administration building project includes $16.9 million of funds attributed to capital improvement projects. 

The budget contains an in-depth overview about all $118.8 million appropriated across 25 funds in 2025. The county released the entire budget for public review this week.

On Nov. 13, Wasatch County will be holding a work session to formally accept council and public feedback. On Dec. 4, changes from that meeting will be presented to the council before the proposed budget’s potential adoption. 

“There will be no decision made next week,” Lefgren said. “Really, what we’re looking at from our perspective is making sure that you understand the document or the substance of the budget, what concerns you have, what changes we need to make.”

This tentative budget’s five major categories are divvied up so that approximately $5 million goes to internal services, $38 million to capital funds, $27 million to special revenue funds, and $2.7 million to debt services funds. The county’s general fund will receive 37% of the budget — about $44 million. 

For 2025, there is no inclusion of property tax increases through the use of Utah’s Truth-in-Taxation, which was voted in by the council 5-1 in October 2023. This budget details that the $1 million increase in property tax is associated only with new growth. 

Two additional funds have been formed for improved monetary and debt service payment tracking, respectively.

The first being a capital improvement fund to monitor restricted monetary assets associated with the purchase of open spaces. The second splits debt service funds in two with a general obligation debt service bond fund and a municipal building authority fund.

Lefgren is confident that the 2025 budget will be well received. 

In 2024, Wasatch County won the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the second year in a row. 

“We anticipate that we will apply this once the adopted budget is finalized. We anticipate that we will get it for the third year in a row,” Lefgren said. 

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