Midvale City Council added nearly $2.9 million to the city’s general fund on Feb. 17. The additional revenue includes expenditures on ongoing capital projects, updates to employee pay and the purchase of a video surveillance trailer for the police department.

Most of the increased revenue into the general budget—$2.7 million—came from the release of reserves gifted to the city through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. And thanks to some “accounting voodoo,” the fund increase was then reallocated to capital projects, Administrative Services Director Mariah Hill told the council Feb. 2.

Midvale’s general fund also saw an increase in spending with city-owned utilities and other services being some of the main drivers of the increase.

“Sewer [and] utilities, both in the general fund and the water fund, are just coming back significantly more expensive than we projected,” Hill said. “So there's an increase of $50,000 for that in the general fund.”

Increased spending in the water fund is intended to allow the city to buy more meters to accommodate new developments. The water budget also saw increases in spending due to rising electricity costs and the purchase of a Source Water Protection Plan.

Along with those spending increases totaling $129,079, the water fund carried over $5.2 million to fund projects outlined in the city’s Water Master Plan.

“I am assured that [those projects] are actually going forward this year, and I'm not going to have to carry forward those funds again since they're from 2023,” Hill said.

While most capital project funds saw an uptick in spending, some saw reductions. Funding for the Midvale Canal trail was cut by $600,000 due to construction delays.

City lawmakers passed a 2026 budget last August. The budget included increases in property taxes to establish a Public Safety fund to cover rising police spending. The amended budget will allocate $24,000 to the public safety fund for the purchase of a LiveView Technologies trailer.

Adjustments to Midvale’s balance sheet were also needed to reflect city employees’ merit pay and to update salaries and benefits, Hill said.

“When I am building our budget, I am at any given time working in four to seven massive spreadsheets, and I miss things,” Hill continued. “So our merit increases were not actually included in our final budget, but I've gone through and included all of that and then made updates to actuals for the employees we have on board through this fiscal year.”

After updating the city's finances to reflect the actual number of employees still on staff, Hill said general fund spending decreased by $17,000.

Midvale’s finance department will present the tentative budget for 2027 on May 5 at the latest.