South Weber council backs stronger capital savings and asks staff for fund-by-fund projections

South Weber's council spent the bulk of its Feb. 7 retreat reviewing the city's finances and pressing staff for clearer, fund-by-fund projections before the FY27 budget is finalized.

Staff said the city's consolidated cash-on-hand across restricted and unrestricted funds is about $2.7 million but stressed that much of that total is earmarked for specific purposes. Brett, the staff presenter, told the council that restricted funds such as the LBA bond, impact-fee balances and water fund reserves already limit what is immediately available for new projects.

Councilmembers pressed for multi-year trend lines and for staff to separate operational (ongoing) revenue from one-time funding such as ARPA so the council can judge what portions of revenue are sustainable. One councilmember proposed a policy that keeps a $200,000 minimum in capital reserves while budgeting up to 25% of sales-tax receipts into capital in years when sales-tax receipts are high; the motion asked staff to prepare FY27 materials reflecting that approach.

Staff agreed to return to committees with fund-by-fund projections, trending over the past four to five years and a three- to five-year forecast. The council prioritized turning the city's capital facilities project list into a 3- to 10-year plan that ties savings targets to specific projects rather than an ad-hoc approach.

The council directed staff to present updated budget materials in March committee meetings and to bring refined scenarios to April work sessions ahead of tentative budget adoption in May.

The council did not adopt a binding ordinance at the retreat; it provided policy guidance and asked staff to produce the numbers and options that would allow a formal decision in the coming budget cycle.

Next steps: staff will supply fund-specific trend lines, options to operationalize a sales-tax reserve policy and a prioritized capital facilities schedule to inform the FY27 tentative budget.