City Council - June 11, 2024

Meeting Summary

The June 11 City Council meeting centered on the allocation of Lehi's 2024 arts and culture PARC tax funds. The PARC (Parks, Arts, Recreation, and Culture) tax, passed by Lehi voters in the 2021 General Election at one-tenth of one percent, generates approximately $1.5 to $1.7 million annually. Of that total, 30% — roughly $550,000 — is directed toward arts and cultural programs, while 70% flows to Parks and Recreation. The PARC tax advisory committee, chaired by Lindsay Gehman, reviewed 32 applications requesting a combined $922,000 and recommended fully funding 19, partially funding 3, and denying 10. The Council voted to accept the committee's full $550,000 in recommendations. The largest recipients were Thanksgiving Point ($200,000 for barriers for the Jurassic Hall exhibit), Just For Kids Utah County ($92,993 for Curtis Center gym upgrades), and the Hutchings Museum ($60,000 for staffing and display improvements). Smaller grants went to Lehi City Arts Council, the Harrington Center for the Arts (Chalk It Up Festival), the Lehi Historical Society, Lehi Music Association, and other community organizations. Council members Heather Newall and Paige Albrecht used the presentation to push for greater transparency in how the parks portion of PARC tax revenues is spent. Unlike the arts grants, which go through a citizen-driven committee review, the parks allocation is folded directly into the Parks and Recreation Department budget with limited public reporting. Both councilwomen called on city staff to develop a comparable reporting structure and raised the possibility of establishing a citizen advisory body for park-related spending. The Council also considered updates to the Lehi Stormwater Management Plan and approved several development code amendments addressing short-term rental parking requirements (Ordinance #45-2024), community forestry regulations (Ordinance #46-2024), and the repeal of a conflicting municipal tree code (Ordinance #47-2024). The Council's request for clearer accounting of park-related PARC tax spending indicated that future meetings could include a presentation modeled after the arts and culture committee review. When the PARC tax comes up for voter renewal, the Council wants to be able to show residents a full accounting of where the funds were spent.