Editor’s note: the final budget votes will be Aug. 19 and Aug. 26, first to approve a property tax increase and then to finalize the budget.

It is West Jordan budget time and if you need something to help you sleep, here is the link to the proposed budget. 

(https://www.westjordan.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FY-2026-Mayors-Proposed-Budget-2025.05.06.pdf)

I haven’t made it through all of it, but below are some items that caught my attention. If you have concerns, contact the mayor and members of the city council.

Those “free events” the city sponsors, aren’t so free. In the current fiscal year, the cost for city events will reach $1,219,583. The mayor has proposed increasing the event days from 75 to 132 with a projected additional cost of $72,795, which increases the total to $1,292,378. Activities are to include: “Crafts & Cravings, Wellness Wednesdays, Connecting Cultures, Splash Paw-ty, Skatecamps, Farmers Market,” with the stated goal to “increase the quality of life by building a sense of community and belonging.” While such a goal is laudable, community spirit doesn’t come by sitting next to different people each time, who may not even be from your city, when you attend an event. Rather, it is built as neighbors help one another with a house or yard project, shovel snow for those who need it, get involved in their children’s schools, chat with friends and neighbors who walk by while they do yard work, help others in their neighborhood who are sick or elderly, or participate with others in religious organizations. A true sense of community can’t be purchased. Additionally, I am puzzled as to how the number of event days can increase by 76%, but the total cost for the events only increases by 5.9%.  I suspect there is more to come. 

Prior to the construction of the new 10-million-dollar arts building, which the city must now maintain, Mayor Burton assured those of us with concerns, that the arts council would pay fair market rent just like everyone else. But on page 142 of the budget, it states that $85,000 is to go to the arts council, and I have been told that it is so they can pay rent. That doesn’t seem like a fulfillment of the mayor’s promise. From the numbers below, which were presented to the mayor and city council by the arts council, it is plain to see that the taxpayers of West Jordan are not only paying a lot to subsidize an organization with few participants, but more than half are not even residents of West Jordan. If you’d like to see the slides of the Arts Council presentation, go to the link below. The numbers reported begin on page 21.

Some members of the Arts Council have hinted that the new 10-million-dollar arts building isn’t large enough and will need to be expanded to accommodate the orchestra’s performances. Instead, on the few occasions that a larger venue is needed, such as for the Messiah sing-a-long, hopefully the Viridian Library, the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, or a local school auditorium will be utilized. 

To preserve our nation, we need every level of government to exercise fiscal restraint—which means that we the people need to carefully consider what we ask our government to do. Remember, needs vs wants. If we ask the government to fulfill all our wants, it will of necessity, take more and more of our money, which will make it more and more difficult for us to fulfill our own needs. 

Some counter that, when spread among all the residents of West Jordan, the amount per person to fund the various activities is small. Consider the sage advice of Benjamin Franklin:  Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.

Callean Laird