June is a beautiful time in the City of Orem. Everything is green, the weather is warm, and the flowers are blooming.
June is also the time that the City of Orem adopts its budget for the next following fiscal year. The city is
required by law to pass a balanced budget. Our revenues have gone up for the past couple of years and I believe
that we will adopt a good, well-balanced budget this year with little in the way of fee increases.
At the same time, Orem is to decide on June 26th whether or not to accept an offer from Macquarie Capital on a way to build out to every address in Orem, fiber owned by UTOPIA (an 11 city inter local government agency).
Presently as part of our budget, we will pay this year $2.9 million dollars of debt to UTOPIA along with approximately
$400,000.00 in operational expense losses. Approximately, 10% of city uses UTOPIA now for connecting to the internet.
The Macquarie offer will require a $18 to $20 utility fee increase on every address in the city for 30 years that will
be adjusted each year upward for inflation. This fee will be collected by the city as part of the utility bill. It has not yet
been decided if there are any opt out exceptions, but if there are, then the city is still required to pay the fee for each address.
We in the city government have been studying the future needs for our infrastructure of water, sewer, and roads, as well as the needs of the police, fire, and city departments.
It is important for us as a city and as citizens to decide what is the highest and best use of any possible utility fee increases. What is our highest priority for the future needs of our city?
I would request that each citizen study these questions out and let us as elected officials know your thoughts and feelings. This is an important time of year to decide the direction our city will take on these issues.
