Transportation Utility Fee

Public Meeting Invite

The Road Ahead: Articles

  1. The State of the City's Roads: A Call to Action

    After inheriting 179 miles of poorly maintained roads, Millcreek has struggled to keep up. Over the past decade, the city has used pavement preservation treatments whenever possible. However, funding from the gas tax keeps dropping as vehicles...

  2. Fixing Millcreek’s Crumbling Streets

    For decades, Millcreek was an unincorporated part of Salt Lake County, and that meant our roads were largely at the mercy of county priorities. Unincorporated areas like Millcreek were left with less attention, fewer resources, and budgets that...

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A New Approach to Road Maintenance in Millcreek

Millcreek is planning ahead for street repairs and considering a Transportation Utility Fee (TUF) to ensure all our city roads get the maintenance they need.  When maintenance is underfunded, roads deteriorate faster and require more costly reconstruction over time. Funds to address maintenance gaps are currently coming from the General Fund, which is insufficient to meet ongoing needs.

A TUF is a funding tool we can use to maintain roads on a regular basis. In Millcreek, the TUF under consideration is a monthly fee assessed to every property owner, including those that typically pay no taxes, such as government, recreational, and religious facilities.

There is no single right way or fee for every city, and we are evaluating the best options for Millcreek.  The TUF would consider the property's use, the number of vehicle trips generated from each property, and how those trips affect road conditions. Examples of uses include businesses receiving freight deliveries, parents taking kids to after-school activities, and people traveling to parks and recreation facilities. People who don’t live in Millcreek but visit the city also contribute, with their fair share included in the fee paid by the businesses they visit.

While a TUF might be a useful tool for Millcreek, the city has not decided whether to implement one and is currently studying several important criteria, including:

  • assessing current road conditions,
  • calculating maintenance costs so Millcreek’s roads meet industry standards,
  • determining different fee structures for different property owners,
  • ensuring legal compliance with Utah code, and
  • explaining the proposed fee to the public and gathering input for the Council to help inform the decision.