[0:01] Spencer, [clears throat] you can come up
[0:02] while we're waiting.
[0:07] Okay.
[0:08] We'll go to public hearing item number
[0:09] one, uh public hearing related actions.
[0:13] The council will accept public comment
[0:15] and may approve the following items.
[0:16] Item number one, public hearing on the
[0:18] proposed tax increase for the city of
[0:20] Saratoga Springs.
[0:21] I have to read this first.
[0:24] Uh the city of Saratoga Springs is
[0:25] proposing a 50.03 property tax increase
[0:29] for an additional [clears throat] 3.1
[0:30] million
[0:31] in revenue that will be generated each
[0:32] year
[0:33] by the proposed increase in the
[0:35] certified tax rate to point 001467
[0:39] for the purpose of funding public safety
[0:41] with the intended use of additional fire
[0:44] and police services. Spencer.
[0:47] >> All right. Good evening, um
[0:50] Evening, Mayor and Council. If it makes
[0:51] you guys feel better, um last time we
[0:53] did truth in taxation for the city here,
[0:54] I was in high school. Um
[0:57] so, it's been a while.
[0:59] Um as the Mayor
[1:00] um stated, this is a proposed property
[1:03] tax increase as part of fiscal year
[1:05] 2026-2027.
[1:06] Um it is um
[1:08] the city is asking for 3.1 million in
[1:11] additional property tax revenue. So,
[1:12] it's approximately a 50% increase. Um it
[1:15] would So, right now, without the
[1:17] property tax increase, our property tax
[1:19] rate would be point 000978.
[1:22] Um and with the increase, it proposed
[1:24] increase would be point 001467.
[1:27] Um any questions for staff at this time?
[1:33] » No.
[1:34] >> I
[1:35] Can I say one thing, Chris?
[1:37] >> What?
[1:38] >> Spencer, can can I say one thing?
[1:40] >> Yeah, go ahead.
[1:41] >> Can you translate that? I mean, we're
[1:43] all talking about the 50% but can we ask
[1:46] on the median income, like on a 500,000,
[1:48] what does that mean?
[1:49] >> So, as part of the um
[1:52] presentation that we have to do, the
[1:53] property tax impact schedule,
[1:55] um the state requires us to do it on a I
[1:58] believe it was a median median average
[2:01] home, which is 541,873,000
[2:04] City of Saratoga Springs. Um, that would
[2:06] be an approximately $145
[2:09] increase per year.
[2:10] Um, so versus what you're already over
[2:13] you're already paying for the city.
[2:15] >> Okay, thank you.
[2:16] >> Yeah, thanks Spencer.
[2:19] We'll move to the public hearing.
[2:21] So,
[2:22] I'm going to open the public hearing for
[2:24] public hearing item one. Please be
[2:27] respectful in your comments. Please
[2:28] limit your comments to 3 minutes. Time
[2:30] may not be given to another commenter.
[2:31] Please avoid repetitive comments.
[2:34] Uh, we do have currently 11 people
[2:36] signed up in the room for public
[2:38] comment. I will go down the list. We
[2:41] also have
[2:43] uh, submitted public comments that we
[2:44] will read and then we potentially will
[2:46] have online public comments. We will
[2:48] start with the in-room comments. We're
[2:50] going to start with Julie King.
[2:53] You have 3 minutes.
[3:00] » [clears throat]
[3:02] » It just please push the button.
[3:07] » My name is Julie King and I've been a
[3:09] resident of Saratoga Springs for 21
[3:10] years.
[3:11] We were here when Governor Herbert cut
[3:13] the ribbon on Pioneer Crossing. My
[3:15] children have attended five schools in
[3:17] Saratoga Springs and one school in Lehi.
[3:19] We have lived through a tremendous
[3:20] amount of growth and we have a pretty
[3:22] good idea of what is coming.
[3:24] I also have a unique perspective because
[3:26] I'm an elected official. I have been in
[3:28] the seats you are sitting in now and
[3:30] I've gone through the truth and taxation
[3:31] process multiple times. I know what
[3:34] happens behind the scenes. I know the
[3:36] hundreds of hours spent pouring over
[3:38] budgets, looking for efficiencies,
[3:40] trying to find resources with limited
[3:41] dollars, and making difficult decisions
[3:44] about what can and cannot be funded.
[3:46] I also understand the responsibility of
[3:48] taking care of employees and making sure
[3:49] they they fairly compensated while being
[3:52] mindful of the impact on families and
[3:54] their household budgets.
[3:56] >> [clears throat]
[3:56] >> A few weeks ago, I stood outside
[3:58] watching a wildfire creep closer and
[4:01] closer to our brand new high school. I
[4:03] saw firefighters save homes and save our
[4:06] high school.
[4:07] Our firefighters and those who provided
[4:09] mutual aid from other municipalities not
[4:11] only saved the school, they saved our
[4:13] district money in costs and delays in
[4:15] that school opening.
[4:17] Thank you.
[4:19] Um I also have another perspective that
[4:22] I think is important. I am now working
[4:24] in the very city office building that
[4:26] the city has made work for many years.
[4:28] I have seen how that space has been
[4:30] repurposed, rearranged, and reconsidered
[4:32] again and again to make it work. And I
[4:34] think that is a pretty good metaphor for
[4:36] Saratoga Springs. We make it work. We
[4:39] make do.
[4:40] We stretch what we have just a little
[4:41] bit farther. And for a long time, that's
[4:44] been the right thing to do. But I think
[4:45] we've reached a point where we need to
[4:46] be honest about the scale of what is
[4:48] coming.
[4:49] The Lake Mountain School District has
[4:50] completed a 15-year capital plan based
[4:52] on the growth we anticipate in Saratoga
[4:54] Springs and Eagle Mountain. We're
[4:56] estimating that we will need to build 17
[4:57] schools in 15 years.
[5:00] To say it again, 17 schools in 15 years.
[5:03] That growth does not just affect the
[5:04] school district, it also affects the
[5:06] city.
[5:07] When we open our new high school in
[5:08] 2028, we're going to ask the city to
[5:10] provide a school resource officer. And
[5:12] that will be true for every secondary
[5:13] school, every middle school, and every
[5:15] high school we open. When we build
[5:16] elementary schools, the city will be
[5:18] asked to provide crossing guards. More
[5:20] schools means more roads, more traffic,
[5:23] more public safety needs, more parks,
[5:25] more infrastructure, and more demand for
[5:27] the services that only the city
[5:28] provides.
[5:29] We are one community. The decisions we
[5:32] make in one level of government have
[5:33] consequences for the others. I know this
[5:36] council's focused on being careful
[5:37] stewards of taxpayer dollars, but I also
[5:39] think we have to recognize that a 2008
[5:42] dollar is not the same as a 2026 dollar.
[5:45] At some point, that making do becomes
[5:48] falling behind.
[5:50] At some point, stretching what we have
[5:51] becomes asking our employees to do more
[5:54] with less, delaying necessary
[5:56] investments, or shifting costs into the
[5:57] future.
[5:58] We have made it work. We have made do.
[6:01] I believe we need to make thoughtful
[6:02] investments today so that we aren't
[6:04] paying a much higher price for deferred
[6:06] decisions tomorrow. As a resident and a
[6:09] tax-paying individual, I want you to
[6:11] know that I support the proposed
[6:12] certified tax rate. Thank you.
[6:15] >> Thank you. I just want to verify with
[6:16] staff that
[6:17] we're running the clock.
[6:19] Correct. Okay.
[6:21] All right. Next we have Daniel Dunham. I
[6:23] will try and get everybody's name right.
[6:30] And Daniel, do you have the Do you have
[6:31] the packet?
[6:32] >> Yep.
[6:32] >> Okay.
[6:34] >> And I actually want to refer to that
[6:35] packet a few times.
[6:37] Um you'll find that there are a few
[6:38] things that are highlighted in here.
[6:40] Um
[6:42] you you say this tax increase is about
[6:44] uh public safety?
[6:46] No.
[6:47] It isn't.
[6:49] If you really cared about public safety,
[6:51] you get rid of him.
[6:53] You get rid of his department.
[6:56] So, you look on page three.
[7:00] You'll see that uh use of deadly force.
[7:03] There have been five instances in the
[7:04] period where his department has been
[7:06] responsible for the death of five
[7:08] different individuals.
[7:10] You look on page five.
[7:13] During the same time period, there have
[7:14] been no reported homicides in the city
[7:16] of Saratoga Springs.
[7:18] The only deaths involving police are
[7:20] those caused by the police.
[7:25] When
[7:31] Trying to catch my notes.
[7:33] There is a another reference in here.
[7:37] Um again with the deadly force.
[7:39] Most killings by police per arrest than
[7:41] 95% of all departments that are in here.
[7:46] When you look on
[7:50] page six,
[7:51] there's a list of the police
[7:52] departments.
[7:54] This is the seventh worst police
[7:55] department in the state out of 116.
[8:00] It is also, when you look at the second
[8:02] page,
[8:04] and [clears throat] you look at police
[8:05] funding,
[8:06] it is higher than 90% of the police
[8:09] departments of a similar supplies sized
[8:12] city.
[8:14] They're overfunded.
[8:16] Their police
[8:17] violence is at 16%, which is
[8:20] significant. They are very violent
[8:23] individuals, or at least a very violent
[8:25] department.
[8:27] There was a report of a guy who their
[8:30] kids phone
[8:32] was faulty.
[8:34] They sent six cars and a canine unit and
[8:36] threatened the homeowner.
[8:39] For a faulty phone.
[8:41] Why do they have six cars to send?
[8:44] And this isn't one thing.
[8:47] This happens.
[8:48] When there's been police accidents,
[8:49] there's usually four or five cars
[8:51] sitting there.
[8:53] It it's
[8:54] they have too much. And then there's
[8:56] their unmarked cars.
[8:58] Talking with somebody who was in the
[8:59] industry, who was involved in in
[9:01] unmarked cars, Cedar Douglas Springs has
[9:03] the most of anybody in the state.
[9:07] So,
[9:08] these guys have a lot of money, they
[9:10] have a lot of equipment, and a lot of
[9:12] spare time.
[9:15] It's a waste.
[9:17] So,
[9:18] rather than provide six more officers,
[9:21] cut 12.
[9:24] Start with him.
[9:31] » Thank you. We'll go to Cecil Turley.
[9:41] » You good?
[9:41] >> I did the same thing.
[9:43] >> Okay.
[9:44] >> Not bad.
[9:47] » Then we'll go to uh Morgan
[9:50] Humphries. I hope I got that right.
[9:52] Morgan, my good?
[9:54] >> Yep.
[9:54] >> Okay.
[9:55] Thank you.
[10:00] » So, I'm here because of the tax
[10:02] increase, 50%. We're one of the highest
[10:05] in the state. I understand the need. I
[10:07] think it's excessive.
[10:09] First off, what are we doing with our
[10:11] tax money?
[10:12] Are we being good stewards, or are we
[10:14] not?
[10:16] The only thing I can do is go off of
[10:17] what I know. I'm an engineer. I look I'm
[10:20] not trying to be
[10:21] picky on the engineering department, but
[10:24] I went through their stuff and and
[10:26] just pure math, the average
[10:29] cost of each employee is 190 grand.
[10:34] The most that a city engineer can make
[10:36] per year, guys, is documentation,
[10:40] is 156 grand or 153.
[10:45] If everybody makes what the city
[10:46] engineer makes, we have over 20% of the
[10:49] budget going to incidentals.
[10:52] And that is low. I will tell you right
[10:54] now it's probably more around 40.
[10:57] Okay?
[10:58] To me that that's just one area where I
[10:59] look at and I go
[11:01] I understand that you have to add
[11:03] benefits in. I understand that there's
[11:05] other things to be added.
[11:07] If I can find it in one department, I
[11:09] can find it in all.
[11:13] I will say that I also am not very happy
[11:16] about
[11:17] the non-marked cars.
[11:20] I feel like we are over-policing in this
[11:22] area
[11:23] in the sense of traffic control. Traffic
[11:26] control and accidents are based off
[11:28] conflict points.
[11:30] happen at intersections.
[11:33] are where accidents occur.
[11:35] That is where the damage, that's where
[11:37] the public safety, that's where the risk
[11:38] is. It's not going down the street going
[11:40] 20 miles an hour over.
[11:42] I know that we want to see and think
[11:44] that, but that doesn't usually cause
[11:45] accidents unless that person is weaving
[11:47] in and out of other people.
[11:49] But that's where we go get almost all of
[11:51] our tickets.
[11:53] That I think is wrong. If it's a public
[11:56] safety issue,
[11:57] go to the intersections. Don't go
[12:00] to the straightaways. That's not going
[12:02] to If somebody's speeding there, that's
[12:04] not going to cause it.
[12:06] Okay?
[12:08] Third point, what is animal control
[12:10] doing in this city?
[12:13] What do they do?
[12:14] They go get dogs and then they charge
[12:16] you to get them back. Okay?
[12:18] It's starting to feel like a
[12:21] an ongoing thing.
[12:22] Okay? The police like to police where
[12:25] people can't see their cars and they get
[12:27] revenue.
[12:29] Animal control goes and gets revenue
[12:31] from dogs. We ask to come get cats, they
[12:33] go go trap them first.
[12:35] A cat.
[12:39] I'm not talking about a cougar and I'm
[12:41] not talking about a bobcat. I'm talking
[12:42] about a feline housecat
[12:45] that people can't come get, animal
[12:47] control?
[12:48] No, that's not my job. That is utter BS.
[12:53] And that is my That's I'll stop because
[12:55] my time's up, but that is it's it's
[12:58] ridiculous.
[13:00] And that is one of the points that I
[13:02] will make is animal control should be
[13:04] gone unless they start doing their job.
[13:07] And that is we live in a
[13:09] area of wilderness. You as animal
[13:13] control need to come take care of
[13:15] wilderness
[13:20] » Thank you. We'll go to Brian King.
[13:31] » Uh good evening. I'm Brian King. I've
[13:33] lived here for about 21 years and uh
[13:36] live up in Harvest Hills. I am speaking
[13:38] tonight in favor of the proposed tax
[13:40] increase.
[13:41] Um I looked down the list of things that
[13:44] are uh
[13:45] that we need and will pay for with this
[13:47] and I think those are all things that I
[13:48] want. I want to know that we have safety
[13:51] officers out there citing individuals
[13:54] who are cutting roundabouts or driving
[13:55] erratically.
[13:56] >> would be for funding um additional fire
[13:59] and police services. I was not aware
[14:00] that nearly 2 million of it would be
[14:02] going to other things. Um one of them
[14:04] being parks, which I mean, considering the wrap tax, I will
[14:08] admit right now that I do not know much
[14:10] about the city budget and so that is on
[14:13] me to learn more. Um but I am curious to
[14:16] know if any lower priority spending has
[14:18] already been cut or deferred. But I just
[14:21] have to say I'm truly grateful for our
[14:23] for law enforcement and firefighters.
[14:25] Having had the opportunity to be a
[14:27] firefighter for the for a day, um they
[14:30] have done an outstanding job. I'm just
[14:32] really grateful for them. Thank you for
[14:33] your service and your time.
[14:37] » Thank you, Leah. We'll go to Jennifer
[14:39] Scranton.
[14:51] » Good evening. My name is Jennifer
[14:52] Scranton. I'm a Saratoga Springs uh
[14:55] homeowner.
[14:56] I do appreciate the importance of
[14:58] police, fire, and EMS. I really thank
[15:01] you. Uh
[15:02] and I understand that our city has grown
[15:04] tremendously
[15:05] and that the cost of providing these
[15:07] services has increased.
[15:09] However, um I am concerned about the 3.1
[15:13] million property tax increase and I have
[15:15] a few questions.
[15:17] Saratoga Springs has grown approximately
[15:19] 16,000 res- or
[15:22] has grown from approximately 16,000
[15:24] residents in 2008 to more than 72,000
[15:27] today.
[15:28] And I'd like the city to explain how
[15:31] much additional revenue that growth has
[15:33] generated and why the revenues
[15:35] associated with that growth are not
[15:37] sufficient to cover the cost created by
[15:40] the growth of today.
[15:42] My second question is why does
[15:46] >> Clarissa Cooper
[15:54] » Hi. I will speak quickly and plainly. Uh
[15:57] I wanted to say that I am super happy to
[15:59] pay more taxes, especially when they
[16:01] support the library and my house not
[16:03] burning down.
[16:04] Big fan of my house not burning down.
[16:06] Big fan of the library.
[16:08] Uh I run things with the Friends of the
[16:10] Library and frequently before I would
[16:12] talk to people and they'd say, "Oh, I
[16:13] didn't know we had a library."
[16:15] And everyone I talk to now loves the new
[16:17] space.
[16:18] And it's amazing.
[16:20] And it's a lifeline to moms in the
[16:22] community with story time.
[16:24] But like that fills up and it's not
[16:26] because the room is full. It's because
[16:28] they don't have the staffing to be able
[16:30] to supervise more kids in there.
[16:33] So, I am really excited about the idea
[16:35] of there being more employees for the
[16:37] library with the tax increase.
[16:39] And so, I just wanted to say thank you
[16:42] for doing the brave thing and
[16:44] asking the people of Utah to pay $150 a
[16:47] year
[16:48] for just amazing benefits. My husband,
[16:51] when I was telling him about
[16:53] uh the benefits for the library thought
[16:56] that that tax increase was exclusively
[16:58] paying for the library because of how
[16:59] much value we feel like we'd be getting
[17:01] there. So,
[17:02] thank you. I appreciate it.
[17:06] >> Thank you. You had Karen Crouch.
[17:17] » Good evening.
[17:18] I wasn't sure I was going to speak
[17:19] tonight and one of the speakers already
[17:21] kind of hit on a lot of the topics that
[17:24] I wanted to talk about. Just have we
[17:27] really researched and cut waste where we
[17:31] could? Because while $150
[17:34] based on your average
[17:37] house
[17:38] isn't a lot, it assumes that year after
[17:41] year that nothing else will raise. But
[17:45] income will raise because we're we have
[17:47] more and more residents. So, I think we
[17:50] are spending wisely on the police and
[17:54] libraries and all of that, but I'm just
[17:56] wondering if we have cut other areas.
[17:59] Uh one thing that I noticed as as
[18:03] someone that goes to Patriot Park a lot,
[18:05] we're watering cement. So, we're not
[18:09] fixing those things and we're wasting
[18:11] money. So, I really want to make sure
[18:14] that we're not wasting money and that we
[18:16] understand that there are some senior
[18:18] citizens here, which I am one of, and
[18:21] we're on fixed income, and a 50% tax
[18:24] increase caught my eye. So, I would I do
[18:28] want to feel that you've taken this
[18:30] seriously and cut all the waste that you
[18:32] can. Thank you.
[18:34] >> Thank you, Sharon.
[18:38] Okay, forgive me on the next last name.
[18:40] I've got Steven
[18:41] Witkovich?
[18:50] » Hi.
[18:51] Um a lot of my concerns have been
[18:53] addressed by
[18:55] previous people, but I um did want to
[18:57] make a few comments. I moved into
[18:59] Saratoga Springs in uh 2006, so I've
[19:02] been here about 20 years.
[19:04] Um
[19:06] a couple things that I don't really
[19:07] understand that would help me is
[19:10] like they said the statistic 16,000 back
[19:12] then, 70,000 now. So, from my
[19:15] perspective,
[19:16] the tax base, the residential tax base
[19:19] has grown astronomically, and then we
[19:21] put in
[19:22] so many businesses over the last 20
[19:24] years, and I can't understand why all
[19:29] those residents, you know, paying into
[19:31] the pool, plus all those businesses
[19:32] paying into the pool,
[19:34] can't cover our tax base. So, that's one
[19:36] thing I
[19:37] I'd like to um ask as a question.
[19:40] The second thing is, I know we've been
[19:42] criticized in the past for our police
[19:44] budget being overinflated, and I feel
[19:47] like it is overinflated, and I feel like
[19:49] a million dollars for four new hires?
[19:52] From my simple math, that's $250,000 per hire.
[19:57] That's pretty good. My dad was a police
[19:59] officer for 30 years. Never made
[20:01] $250,000.
[20:03] So, obviously, that budget, there's a
[20:05] lot of other stuff in there besides four
[20:07] hires.
[20:08] But, I believe our police budget should
[20:10] be reduced, not increased.
[20:13] Same concern, 50% in 1 year. Could we do
[20:16] 15% over 3 years?
[20:19] Final point, um when I moved here from
[20:21] Sandy in 2006,
[20:24] my property taxes immediately doubled,
[20:27] and I was kind of in sticker shock. It's
[20:29] like, "How can Sandy provide such
[20:31] excellent services to their residents
[20:34] for half the amount of half the property
[20:36] tax in Saratoga Springs can?" Now, I've
[20:38] been paying double for the last 20 years
[20:40] cuz I got used to the the new tax
[20:42] burden, but
[20:44] it seems that as we approach the size of
[20:46] Sandy, we should also be getting the
[20:48] efficiencies of Sandy, and we don't seem
[20:50] to be doing that. I don't know what
[20:52] Sandy's current tax rates are, but
[20:55] when we're fully built out, and we're
[20:57] going to be a, you know, 100,000 or so,
[20:59] right? We're going to be equivalent to
[21:01] Sandy.
[21:03] How is it that they can figure out how
[21:05] to keep taxes low, and we can't? I don't
[21:07] believe that they're any smarter than we
[21:08] are.
[21:09] But they must be doing something right
[21:10] that we're not doing and maybe we could
[21:12] learn some lessons from them.
[21:14] Um
[21:15] and then finally uh and this was I
[21:17] didn't know this until tonight reading
[21:18] over the docs. I'm looking at our the
[21:20] cities around us.
[21:22] We're the highest tax increase city over
[21:24] all the other cities. They're like 6, 8,
[21:26] 10% except for Eagle Mountain who's gone
[21:28] nuts and they they decided to do a 200%
[21:30] tax increase, but
[21:32] it's like what are these other cities
[21:34] doing that we can't figure out how to do
[21:36] to keep their tax increases reasonable?
[21:38] 6, 8, 10% that's reasonable. Inflation,
[21:42] right? We're covering inflation.
[21:44] But 50%?
[21:45] Something's going wrong here. It's it's
[21:48] um
[21:50] There there there's there's got to be
[21:51] something that we can do better
[21:54] to be more efficient. Thank you.
[22:00] » Thank you. We've got Lynn Archuleta.
[22:14] » Hi. Um I was born and raised here in
[22:17] Utah. Lived in Salt Lake most of my life
[22:20] until 2020 I came here to Saratoga
[22:22] Springs.
[22:23] Um I worked for the state of Utah for 38
[22:25] years ending um as a budget officer for
[22:29] the Department of Veterans and Military
[22:31] Affairs. So, I understand budgeting very
[22:34] well. And um I I've I've been up to the
[22:37] legislature and gone through that whole
[22:40] budget process
[22:41] uh for the 12 years that I worked for
[22:43] the Department of Veterans Affairs and
[22:46] um
[22:47] I am also just retired
[22:50] um
[22:51] last year
[22:52] and 50% really
[22:55] screamed to me as well. I understand
[22:58] and I expected have tax increases every
[23:01] year and I get that. You know, I I
[23:03] understand it's it's necessary, but 50%
[23:07] is extreme, especially when I'm as I
[23:10] would have always been a single
[23:12] parent
[23:13] and have struggled my whole life, and
[23:17] I thought I could live off my
[23:18] retirement, and I am struggling. I
[23:22] had no idea how much taxes I they take
[23:25] out retirement. Um it's just this is a
[23:28] lot, and when I look at the numbers, um
[23:31] like I just looked at what the budget
[23:33] was for, um
[23:35] the police
[23:37] over a million dollars, like the man
[23:38] just said.
[23:41] I have I know that government on my
[23:44] experience of 38 years of government is leaning towards top-heavy.
[23:50] And
[23:51] we can
[23:53] I've gone through lots of budgets, you
[23:55] know, cutting budgets where
[23:58] at the state level, they're constantly
[24:00] asking departments to cut budgets, cut
[24:02] budgets. Where can you cut back? A lot
[24:04] of the people already addressed what I
[24:05] wanted to say here, but
[24:09] you can cut. You just got to
[24:12] dive in there and cut. When I see
[24:16] to you know, the
[24:17] I I know police are necessary, but when I
[24:21] first moved here, we had a fire in my
[24:23] house
[24:24] literally was almost caught fire. I had
[24:26] to go, and it it's scary. We we need to
[24:30] fund the fire department. We need more
[24:32] firefighters here. Um the growth, you
[24:35] know,
[24:37] the last gentleman that said there's so
[24:39] much growth, you know, why isn't that
[24:41] compensating? We there's got to be
[24:44] something. We got to dig and find out
[24:47] how to be more efficient, where we can
[24:49] cut, and not be top-heavy anywhere.
[24:55] That's a lot of money for four four
[24:57] positions in that's a lot. It It seems
[25:01] top-heavy to me. My department was
[25:03] top-heavy.
[25:06] I don't know. I I'm just really
[25:08] concerned. I I I drive here and I live
[25:12] at the end by the lake and for me to go
[25:15] anywhere any day
[25:17] Is that my time? Sorry.
[25:19] >> Yeah, thank you.
[25:20] >> Thank you.
[25:25] » Okay.
[25:26] Do we have more
[25:28] signed up for in room?
[25:33] Wendy, are there more signed up on the
[25:34] sheet back there or
[25:40] If we have another one, you want to just
[25:42] come up and state your name.
[25:50] For in room, if you want to if there's
[25:52] more public comment, you can come up to
[25:54] the microphone, state your name.
[26:08] » Um my name is Beth Allen and I'm a
[26:10] resident here in Saratoga Springs and I
[26:12] do um have similar questions as as other
[26:15] people have asked is um why the growth
[26:20] in businesses haven't compensated for
[26:23] the tax need. And I'm wondering if some
[26:27] of the businesses have been given
[26:29] incentives, like have they gotten tax
[26:31] breaks and maybe
[26:32] that might need to be explained or
[26:34] something. And then
[26:35] um I'm also just making a comment on the
[26:38] library. Um
[26:41] I love the library. I absolutely love
[26:42] it. It's super hard to volunteer there.
[26:46] >> [clears throat]
[26:46] >> Um
[26:47] so if if there is a way to make
[26:49] volunteering easier at the library, then
[26:52] maybe we wouldn't have to hire other
[26:54] people if it wasn't like a 6-month
[26:56] process of background checks and just a
[26:59] volunteer.
[27:01] Um if we weren't so picky on the
[27:03] volunteers.
[27:06] Thank you.
[27:07] >> Thank you.
[27:09] While we wait to see if there's more,
[27:11] let's go to
[27:13] some of the online's.
[27:15] Nikki, we could do that.
[27:18] Yeah, go ahead, Mark.
[27:20] >> Sorry.
[27:21] >> Do you Mark, did you have something?
[27:22] >> Do you want her to read them?
[27:23] >> Yes, yeah, I was going to have her read
[27:25] the read the online comments. I believe
[27:26] we had five submitted online.
[27:29] And we're going to we're going to have
[27:30] you read those with the same 3-minute
[27:32] timer clock.
[27:33] And if whatever doesn't get read in the
[27:36] 3 minutes will just be it's already
[27:38] submitted into the record.
[27:41] >> All right, we have Kevin Marsh.
[27:43] He says, "I'm opposed to increasing
[27:45] property tax rates by this much. I can't
[27:47] speak for others, but I have been
[27:49] observing that the last few years have
[27:51] been death by 1,000 cuts.
[27:54] Everything is getting more expensive,
[27:56] every tax rate is going up, every
[27:58] purchase we make just to survive has
[28:00] gone up by dramatic amounts. While wages
[28:03] have largely remained stagnant, I
[28:05] understand the need for additional
[28:07] revenue to counter some of the
[28:08] shortfall, but this amount is too much
[28:11] and will further strain the budgets of
[28:12] those who can afford it the least.
[28:14] Please consider an increase of 12 to 17%
[28:17] instead of 50."
[28:21] That's the end, Katie.
[28:27] Uh Brandon Anderson
[28:30] says, "I support this tax increase for
[28:32] better emergency and public safety. I've
[28:35] lived here long enough to watch Harvest
[28:37] Hills go from the edge of a town to a
[28:39] cut-through. Mount View corridor empties
[28:41] into my neighborhood and more and more.
[28:44] What comes down Harvest Hills Boulevard
[28:46] is not resident traffic. Redwood Road is
[28:49] worse. The city is the only group that
[28:51] can solve this problem, and we need
[28:53] better enforcement of traffic laws along
[28:55] our roads.
[28:57] With this tax, the city can hire
[28:59] additional law enforcement officers so
[29:01] we can better enforce the existing laws
[29:03] by slowing down cut-through traffic on
[29:05] our residential roads and along Redwood
[29:08] Road.
[29:09] It will make our roads safer for our
[29:10] kids, and we desperately need them to be
[29:12] safer. Please say yes.
[29:20] Josh Kimball states, "I saw that
[29:23] property taxes are proposed to raise by
[29:25] around 50%, and I'm writing to give my
[29:28] dissent to this decision.
[29:30] With the rapid growth rapid growth in
[29:33] the city
[29:34] is experiencing in both new residential
[29:36] construction and industrial business and
[29:38] office space, I feel that the money
[29:41] received through this growth should
[29:42] bring in sufficient money instead of
[29:44] burdening residents with yet another
[29:46] increase to our lives where the cost of
[29:48] living is already out of control
[29:50] expensive.
[29:58] Jordan Hyde
[30:00] says, "Mayor and City Council, the
[30:02] this comment is in support of the
[30:04] proposed tax rate increase.
[30:06] While paying higher taxes is
[30:08] uncomfortable, the proposal is a
[30:10] necessary and reasonable investment in
[30:12] the continued success and well-being of
[30:14] Saratoga Springs.
[30:16] The purpose and justification for this
[30:18] increase are clearly stated in the
[30:21] proposal with spending specific to
[30:23] services the entire city rely and
[30:26] depends on.
[30:27] It is hard to argue against the
[30:29] necessity of well-funded police
[30:31] officers,
[30:33] firefighters, and emergency personnel
[30:35] with appropriate and adequate training
[30:37] and equipment. As our city continues to
[30:40] grow, this investment will be more
[30:42] important. This proposal is fiscally
[30:45] responsible and justified. I put my full
[30:48] support behind this proposal and
[30:49] encourage the City Council to approve
[30:52] the proposed property tax increase. This
[30:55] proposal is fiscally responsible and
[30:57] justified.
[30:58] I put my full support behind this
[31:00] proposal and encourage the City Council
[31:02] to approve the proposed property tax
[31:04] increase. That was in there twice.
[31:13] Clarissa Bascom
[31:15] um wrote to the public comment regarding
[31:17] the proposed tax increase uh with
[31:20] questions. Dear Mayor, City Council
[31:22] members, and fellow residents,
[31:25] like many residents, I am trying to
[31:27] understand the need for a proposed
[31:29] property tax increase that has been
[31:31] described as the first city tax increase
[31:33] since 2008.
[31:35] As a homeowner, a taxpayer, and someone
[31:37] who cares deeply about our community, I
[31:40] believe it is important that this
[31:41] decision be based on a complete
[31:43] understanding of the city's financial
[31:45] history and not solely on the statement
[31:47] that taxes have not been increased for
[31:49] many years.
[31:51] A 50% increase in the city's property
[31:53] tax is significant for many families.
[31:56] Because this decision rests with the
[31:57] City Council, I respectfully ask that
[32:00] residents be provided with additional
[32:02] information so we can better understand
[32:04] why this increase is necessary and
[32:06] whether all reasonable alternatives have
[32:08] been considered.
[32:10] I respectfully request clarification on
[32:12] the following questions.
[32:13] It is accurate that while the city has
[32:15] not adopted a truth in taxation property
[32:17] tax increase since 2008,
[32:20] the city's property tax revenue has
[32:22] nevertheless increased substantially
[32:23] through the construction of thousands of
[32:25] new homes and commercial properties?
[32:28] As Saratoga Springs has an experienced
[32:30] tremendous growth, has the city also
[32:33] received increased recurring revenue
[32:35] from other sources including sales tax,
[32:37] building permit fees, impact fees,
[32:41] state shared revenue, franchise fees,
[32:43] and other growth-related revenues? If
[32:45] so, how have those revenues changed over
[32:47] time?
[32:48] Is it correct that Utah County collects
[32:50] property taxes on behalf of Saratoga
[32:52] Springs and distributes the city's share
[32:55] back to the city?
[32:57] How has the city's overall revenue
[32:58] changed since 2008, and how has that
[33:01] additional revenue been allocated?
[33:04] Specifically, how much annual revenue
[33:06] has been generated by new residential
[33:08] construction?
[33:09] How much annual revenue has been
[33:11] generated by commercial developers?
[33:13] How much has total city property tax
[33:16] revenue increased since 2008?
[33:18] Which departments have experienced the
[33:20] greatest increases in spending? How much
[33:23] of the proposed increase is intended to
[33:25] maintain existing services versus
[33:27] expanding services?
[33:29] As the city's budget has grown, have
[33:31] city services grown proportionally?
[33:34] For example, if the city's property tax
[33:36] revenue has increased significantly over
[33:38] the past 18 years,
[33:40] have residents seen comparable increases
[33:42] in roads, public safety, parks,
[33:45] staffing, and other essential services?
[33:48] A comparison of budget growth alongside
[33:50] measurable service improvements would
[33:52] help residents better understand the
[33:54] need for additional taxation.
[33:56] What portion of growth-related
[33:58] infrastructure has been funded
[34:00] through developer impact fees rather
[34:02] than property taxes? Have those impact
[34:05] fees kept pace with the costs created by
[34:07] new development?
[34:08] Many residents have expressed concerns
[34:10] about continued rapid growth. If
[34:12] additional property tax revenue is
[34:14] approved to address growth-related
[34:16] needs, what is the city's long-term plan
[34:19] to manage them?
[34:25] And have we received any more?
[34:27] >> We have not.
[34:28] >> Um is
[34:30] uh
[34:31] Derek Andrews online?
[34:32] >> Um, he is not online, but there are two
[34:35] people online. Um, one just has a phone
[34:38] number and one I do have a name.
[34:39] >> Do you want me to do Do you want to do
[34:41] those first and then we'll wait if Derek
[34:43] doesn't show up, we can read his?
[34:44] >> That's great.
[34:45] >> Yes. Um, for sure.
[34:47] So, I am going to promote Tammy
[34:49] Christopherson to a panelist so that she
[34:53] is able to share her thoughts with us.
[34:56] Um, in doing that, I'm going to also,
[34:59] um, move my computer to the front so
[35:02] that the city council can see her face
[35:06] if she wants you to. Um, because that
[35:08] was something that, um, we were supposed
[35:10] to ensure that residents had that
[35:12] ability.
[35:15] Tammy, it looks like you are muted.
[35:25] Perfect. So, hold on just 1 second. I'm
[35:26] going to turn up my sound and put a
[35:28] microphone to my speaker so that you can
[35:31] become part of the public record. Okay?
[35:34] You can go ahead and start.
[35:38] >> Okay, this was kind of a surprise. Um,
[35:41] I a lot of this has been covered, um,
[35:44] with what everyone said, so I just go
[35:46] yes cuz I'm not for
[35:50] it
[35:52] Sorry. For us who are retired, I figured
[35:55] that this increase it will it is 20% of
[35:59] income that I get from social security
[36:01] and what little I've saved. 20%.
[36:05] And when it said in 2008, they haven't
[36:08] had any increase, but
[36:10] my
[36:11] property taxes have gone up 5% every
[36:14] year.
[36:15] But I'm also for if it's if it's 51%,
[36:19] why can't we drag it out over time and
[36:22] not just go wham 50%? That's just
[36:26] It just I it just gets really scary that
[36:30] it we have these huge things and as a
[36:32] senior I you sit there and think, "Okay,
[36:35] where am I going to cut? Do I not take a
[36:37] medicine that I have I need to have
[36:39] because that's cutting into what I have
[36:41] budgeted for the month?"
[36:43] And um
[36:45] and like the other people said that the
[36:47] uh
[36:49] where is the other income coming from
[36:52] all these other people who have moved in
[36:53] and businesses and people
[36:56] and why is that not being compensated,
[36:58] but I agree with a lot of what other
[37:00] people have said.
[37:02] Thank you.
[37:06] » Thank you. And then um we have another
[37:09] attendee.
[37:10] Um I they it looks like they joined from
[37:12] like a phone and so we just have a phone
[37:14] number. So, if they can share their name
[37:17] um before they speak, I um
[37:20] am see why are you not
[37:25] Sorry.
[37:27] Okay, it's not um I can allow them to
[37:30] talk, but it's not allowing me to put
[37:31] them on maybe cuz they don't have a
[37:33] camera cuz they're on a phone. So, I'm
[37:36] going to allow them to talk.
[37:39] You can go ahead. It looks like you are
[37:41] muted, so if you would like to speak.
[37:43] >> Give their name.
[37:44] >> I don't.
[37:45] >> No, no, they need to give their name.
[37:46] >> Yeah, please give your name.
[37:48] >> now?
[37:48] >> You You are.
[37:51] >> Okay, perfect. Uh my name is Derek
[37:53] Andrews. I've been a resident of
[37:55] Saratoga Springs since 2013.
[37:58] And I prepared some words in opposition
[38:01] to the 50% tax increase. Uh good
[38:04] evening, Mayor and council members. I'm
[38:05] here tonight respectfully opposed to the
[38:07] proposed property tax increase. I want
[38:09] to be clear. I support responsible
[38:11] funding for police, fire, roads, and the
[38:13] essential services our growing city
[38:14] needs. My concern is whether a 50%
[38:17] increase in city property tax revenue is
[38:19] necessary right now and whether the city
[38:22] has adequately demonstrated that it is.
[38:24] Saratoga Springs is growing rapidly. The
[38:27] city's own budget documents recognize
[38:29] strong economic and residential growth.
[38:32] Uh record sales tax revenues and
[38:34] continued expansion of the tax base. The
[38:36] city grew by roughly 8% in the most
[38:38] recent year reflected in the budget and
[38:40] substantial additional growth is
[38:41] projected. That growth should matter
[38:43] when we discuss taxation. Before asking
[38:46] existing homeowners to pay significantly
[38:48] more, I believe the city should
[38:49] demonstrate how much additional revenue
[38:51] it can reasonably expect from new
[38:53] construction, new businesses, population
[38:55] growth, sales taxes, and other existing
[38:57] revenue sources.
[38:58] Many homeowners are already struggling
[39:00] with the cost of living and today's
[39:02] housing prices. A home's increasing
[39:04] assessed value may represent wealth on
[39:06] paper, but it isn't cash in a
[39:07] homeowner's bank account. Increasing the
[39:09] tax burden on people simply because
[39:11] their homes have become more valuable
[39:13] can put additional pressure on families
[39:15] who have never actually realized that
[39:16] increase in value.
[39:18] There is another issue I believe
[39:19] deserves attention. Flock license plate
[39:21] reader cameras. The Fourth Amendment
[39:23] protects Americans from unreasonable
[39:24] searches and seizures and organizations
[39:27] such as the ACLU have raised serious
[39:29] concerns about automated license plate
[39:30] surveillance because it is actually
[39:33] surveillance. It is not just a reader.
[39:35] It is meant to surveil and monitor
[39:37] citizens who have not committed a crime
[39:39] nor have reasonable articulable
[39:41] suspicion that they are about to commit
[39:43] a crime.
[39:44] This can put additional pressure Oh,
[39:46] excuse me. I mixed up cuz I needed to
[39:48] add more detail on that. So, this
[39:50] includes
[39:51] uh from this technology includes
[39:52] collection, retention, sharing, and
[39:54] accessibility of location data not only
[39:56] within our own police department but
[39:58] sharing across multiple departments
[40:00] statewide and countrywide. I'm not
[40:02] suggesting that every use of this
[40:03] technology has been ruled
[40:05] unconstitutional. I am saying that
[40:06] residents deserve strong safeguards
[40:09] before government collects detailed
[40:10] information about where people travel. I
[40:12] am uncomfortable therefore asking
[40:15] taxpayers for more money while the city
[40:16] continues funding surveillance
[40:18] technology that raises legitimate
[40:20] constitutional and privacy concerns. I
[40:22] also believe the tax proposal needs to
[40:24] be res-
[40:25] represented more clearly. The city's own
[40:28] property tax impact schedule shows a
[40:30] proposed 3.1 3.1 million dollar
[40:32] increase, but only 1.202 million or
[40:35] 38.78%
[40:37] is identified for police and fire.
[40:39] Although the whole thing was presented
[40:41] as it's for public safety.
[40:44] That means more than 1.89 million or
[40:46] over 61% goes to other areas that are
[40:49] not public safety. They are not police
[40:50] and fire. Those expenditures may be
[40:53] worthwhile.
[40:54] >> Time.
[40:55] >> taxpayers deserve to see that
[40:56] distinction clearly rather than hearing
[40:58] the proposed
[41:02] » Thank you, Derek.
[41:06] Okay, I think we might have a few more
[41:07] in the room who signed up. Um
[41:10] Beth Allen, I believe you already came
[41:12] up, correct?
[41:14] Okay. We've got uh Sammy Reyes.
[41:23] » Hello, my name is Sammy. I'm a homeowner
[41:25] in Saratoga Springs. We uh recently
[41:27] moved over here.
[41:28] Um I'm I'm not opposed to taxes. I understand
[41:32] that expenditure um
[41:35] is needed. I am opposed to the 50% tax
[41:37] increase.
[41:38] What we don't have is I think visibility
[41:40] to where the money is. There are other
[41:43] um
[41:43] uh revenue sources, sales tax, building
[41:46] permit taxes, or uh uh fees,
[41:49] um
[41:50] revenue from traffic fines,
[41:52] um
[41:53] I think
[41:55] my concern, and I don't want to speak
[41:56] for everybody else, but where's that
[41:58] money coming from? How much is that
[41:59] money?
[42:01] Um your your tax base has increased
[42:03] tremendously. Um how much more money are
[42:05] you getting? And this is like the uh
[42:08] I I don't know if there's there's no
[42:10] visibility, and I don't know where to
[42:12] get that. If you can provide that to us
[42:14] for us to understand how much money
[42:16] you're handling and how much money you
[42:19] still need. We also would like to
[42:21] somebody asked a very reasonable
[42:23] question is what other expenses did you
[42:26] cut? Is there is there anything
[42:27] unnecessary or anything you can do less
[42:29] with that's been cut like for example
[42:31] watering concrete.
[42:33] It's a good point. Um
[42:37] The other concern which is a major
[42:38] concern is if this passes, when is your
[42:41] next 50% tax increase going to happen to
[42:44] us?
[42:45] Is that when is enough?
[42:49] Um I believe you as a body, you're
[42:51] trusted to take care of Saratoga
[42:54] Springs.
[42:55] Um
[42:56] and I think the standard is to minimize
[42:59] government, the size of government and
[43:02] the impact of government while providing
[43:05] a good balance to people. Obviously, if
[43:08] we ask you to handle everything that we
[43:09] do, yeah, you're going to need all the
[43:11] money that you do.
[43:13] But we're asking you not to do that.
[43:15] We're just asking for visibility to
[43:17] where the money is, how much money there
[43:19] is and where it's going.
[43:21] Um
[43:24] Sir, you got a bad rap today. I don't
[43:26] know how true that is.
[43:27] I'm sorry for that. I I do support uh
[43:30] law enforcement everywhere. I don't
[43:31] think else is uh
[43:33] is a good idea.
[43:34] Um
[43:36] and
[43:38] uh in conflict with many other people
[43:40] who think that that money is too high. I
[43:42] believe when you consider the salary,
[43:44] the car, the unit, the weapons and the
[43:47] training, I think
[43:49] that might be we might be close to what
[43:51] you're asking for. So, and again, I
[43:53] think uh if there is police brutality,
[43:56] um that's a training issue, not a budget
[43:58] issue.
[43:59] So, thank you.
[44:01] >> Thank you.
[44:03] Do we have any more submitted online?
[44:06] Nicky or Anne?
[44:10] Are there any more on Zoom?
[44:12] Okay, let me check the room again. Is
[44:13] there any more in the room?
[44:21] Could you
[44:23] do one of these in the back, please?
[44:25] Okay.
[44:25] >> Do you want to speak here or there
[44:26] first?
[44:27] >> Go ahead.
[44:28] Just give us your name.
[44:29] >> My name is Jaylin Lincoln and I've been
[44:31] a resident of Saratoga Springs since
[44:32] 1999.
[44:34] And I want to thank this council and the
[44:36] councils that came before you of
[44:38] balancing the needs of services and the
[44:40] increases of taxes. It comes tonight to
[44:43] the age-old question, is it better to do
[44:45] small increments or to go years without
[44:48] before we do a tax raise?
[44:50] It's really hard and I don't have an
[44:51] answer for you, but I do appreciate the
[44:54] time and the effort to have many years
[44:56] of no tax increases.
[44:58] Um we used to joke that we couldn't come
[44:59] out of Costco without spending $100.
[45:02] Unfortunately, the new joke at our house
[45:04] is we can't go to Costco without
[45:05] spending $250.
[45:07] As prices go up, the dollars that were
[45:10] with the original rate
[45:12] in today's market, they just don't
[45:13] purchase as much as they used to and
[45:16] it's a hard question to struggle with,
[45:18] but I appreciate the balance that this
[45:20] city has taken between raising taxes
[45:23] over the last many years um and and
[45:26] providing services and I I hope and wish
[45:30] that there's some magic bullet on either
[45:32] small increments or larger increments.
[45:34] One thing I thought might be helpful is
[45:36] on your paper that was passed out to
[45:38] have the rates of the different cities,
[45:40] what their current rate is and what
[45:41] their proposed rate is because then you
[45:43] can see that oh, it's a 50% increase,
[45:46] but our rate is still lower than a bunch
[45:48] of the cities on the paper. You can
[45:50] compare apples to apples a little better
[45:53] um because the different cities all have
[45:55] different philosophies, slow increments
[45:57] or all at once. But again, I appreciate
[45:59] the the effort that this council has
[46:01] made to keep taxes as low as they can
[46:04] since we moved to Saratoga Springs in
[46:05] '99. Thank you.
[46:09] » Joel, and please don't forget to put
[46:11] your name on there.
[46:13] And are there any more on Zoom?
[46:14] >> There are not.
[46:16] >> Nikki, is there any more emailed in?
[46:17] >> We don't.
[46:19] We do not have any more emails or anyone
[46:21] else on Zoom.
[46:22] >> Okay. Is there anybody else in the room
[46:23] here that would like to participate in
[46:25] the public hearing?
[46:28] Okay. Seeing none, we'll close the
[46:30] public hearing.
[46:35] And we'll go to
[46:38] business item or public hearing item
[46:40] two, consideration of resolution R-2644
[46:44] adopting the certified tax rate for the
[46:46] general revenue fund for fiscal year
[46:47] 2026-2027, Spencer.
[46:50] And council will when after Spencer's
[46:51] done, we'll have time to address
[46:54] um comments.
[46:59] Or ask questions for Spencer.
[47:01] >> Okay.
[47:02] Um so, this resolution here is adopting
[47:05] the property tax rate as part of the
[47:07] fiscal year 2026-2027 budget. Um
[47:11] nothing's really changed since what we
[47:12] said earlier. Were there any questions
[47:14] for staff at this time?
[47:22] » No.
[47:23] >> I I have a question.
[47:24] >> Go ahead. Yeah, council.
[47:25] >> Yeah.
[47:26] >> [clears throat]
[47:27] >> Spencer, um
[47:28] I know that uh staff has put in
[47:32] an untold number of hours
[47:34] uh at the request of
[47:36] city council to make sure that we were
[47:39] uh using the dollars wisely.
[47:41] Um
[47:43] >> [clears throat]
[47:43] >> when um we look at the uh last time that
[47:48] taxes were raised as an absolute dollar
[47:51] amount in in 2008, uh do you have any um
[47:55] idea in the back of your mind or or
[47:57] handy,
[47:58] what inflation has done to the cost of the city
[48:02] and its operations?
[48:04] >> Um, I don't have that handy right now,
[48:06] the inflation since 2008.
[48:08] Um, we could prepare that for you at a
[48:10] different time if you want.
[48:12] >> Well, um,
[48:14] I I I think it'd be safe to say that
[48:16] inflation has had a devastating effect
[48:18] on on the cost of operations in the city
[48:21] over over time. Would that be a fair
[48:24] statement?
[48:24] >> Um, yeah, inflation has been a factor.
[48:27] Um, we had that burst in the early
[48:28] 2020s. Um, I know we had a lot of
[48:30] discussions during that time
[48:32] as how to address that and keep um,
[48:34] the city competitive with staffing and
[48:36] all that. So, yes, it's been a factor.
[48:38] >> So, this has been a a struggle then as
[48:40] long as you've been in the finance
[48:42] department helping to to balance this
[48:45] budget with what the income is coming in
[48:48] from not only existing home, but also
[48:49] new construction. Would that be a fair
[48:51] statement?
[48:52] >> Um, yes, every year we have to go
[48:53] through this discussion and it's always
[48:55] a question of how we can balance the
[48:56] budget and how we can address the city's
[48:58] needs.
[49:00] >> And what is what is the first concern in doing that when you
[49:04] I I know that's an open-ended question,
[49:05] but in balancing the budget, what is the
[49:08] first concern in doing that?
[49:09] >> Uh, generally paying for existing
[49:11] services already, making sure that we
[49:12] don't have to cut anything.
[49:13] >> Okay, thank you.
[49:21] » Um, Spencer, so this when we look at
[49:24] this schedule for the things that will
[49:25] be cut, those are just things this year,
[49:27] correct?
[49:28] >> Yes.
[49:29] >> In this year's budget. So, one thing I
[49:30] want to point out is that people have
[49:32] properly noted that about 1.2 of that
[49:34] goes to public safety this year.
[49:36] But if I'm looking and I'm looking at
[49:38] our budget projections right here,
[49:40] um, we project to spend for for anyone
[49:42] in the audience, uh, I hope this is okay
[49:43] to say, 14.5 million this year on public
[49:46] safety and 17.6 next year, which is a
[49:49] 3.1. A lot of those people are hired
[49:53] after this budget year. So, these are
[49:55] the people that are impacted. Just to
[49:57] clarify it for me, too.
[49:59] >> We've already made a lot of hires. So,
[50:01] these ones right here
[50:02] >> not hired for these positions.
[50:04] >> We have not hired for these, but we've
[50:05] already started staffing for the
[50:07] potential
[50:09] future fire station or as I guess the
[50:11] fire department is calling it the
[50:11] outpost.
[50:13] Um I think correct me if I'm wrong,
[50:15] Chief. You guys already have the
[50:16] ambulance running out of there, right?
[50:18] >> Yeah.
[50:19] So, and that's and that's what I want to
[50:20] clarify for some of the people in the
[50:22] audience. It is true that only 1.2 of
[50:24] this is going to public safety right now
[50:27] in the immediate, but in the next 6 to
[50:29] 12 months, we do plan to hire 22
[50:32] additional firefighter paramedics as
[50:34] well as several more police officers.
[50:36] So, this is
[50:37] um
[50:38] this is ongoing beyond this year these
[50:40] funds.
[50:42] >> If I if I could, um this year the the
[50:45] um
[50:46] the law relative to property tax
[50:48] increases changed. And so, in addition
[50:51] to showing what we are going to use the tax increase for, we are also
[50:56] obligated to show what we we not fund if
[50:59] the tax rate increase did not go
[51:01] through. And so, we looked at the
[51:03] budget. Um as you stated very
[51:06] eloquently, there are some things that
[51:08] we just absolutely have to do. And so,
[51:11] um those are the public safety items.
[51:13] And so, some of the things that would
[51:14] not be funded um they they have nothing
[51:17] to do with the property tax. We're
[51:18] talking about you know, freeing up other
[51:21] revenue streams and other revenue
[51:22] sources by not making those additional
[51:24] expenditures. And we're trying to follow
[51:26] the legislative intent. So, none of the
[51:28] positions that are identified in the
[51:31] alternative budget have been um hired or
[51:34] filled. Those cannot be filled by state
[51:36] law until after our rate is certified um
[51:39] once this evening's uh
[51:40] process goes through. So, fundamentally,
[51:43] um we we did show a a of things that are
[51:45] not public safety related. But public
[51:48] safety, we generate about $6 million a
[51:50] year currently in property tax.
[51:53] As you indicated, it's about $14 million
[51:55] in this year's expenditures, and it's
[51:56] going to go up another $3 million next
[51:58] year. So, fundamentally, the property
[52:00] taxes that we are increasing are only a
[52:02] small portion of what public safety fees
[52:04] will be, and they will continue to grow
[52:07] as we
[52:08] fully staff the fire station in coming
[52:10] years, as well as add additional police
[52:11] officers.
[52:12] >> Thank you for clarifying.
[52:14] >> Just to reiterate, that does not mean
[52:16] that we're going to raise taxes again to
[52:17] meet that, right, Mark? Okay. Just
[52:20] wanted to clarify that. Um
[52:22] >> [clears throat]
[52:23] >> Thank you for coming. Thank you for
[52:25] participating in this. I know there are
[52:26] some people that are
[52:28] for it and against it.
[52:31] I see some uh gentleman in the back
[52:32] wearing an America 250.
[52:38] It's a beautiful place to live.
[52:40] We have the freedoms to do this and
[52:41] discuss as citizens.
[52:44] I get some of you aren't happy.
[52:46] I wasn't happy when we first started
[52:48] talking about this. We And there's
[52:52] it was a hard decision, you know, as
[52:54] some people were for and we you know, we
[52:57] counseled back and forth. We went to
[52:58] staff.
[52:59] We did look at budgets and what we could
[53:02] trim.
[53:04] Some of you
[53:05] have stressed that you're not as in for
[53:09] you don't have the information in front
[53:10] of you that that you would like to have.
[53:13] Um I think we can work on that.
[53:17] Um it might be after the vote, but it at
[53:20] least we can get you the information
[53:21] that you need. You're the public, you
[53:23] deserve it. So, we will
[53:25] do we'll do something to get you that
[53:27] information. At least maybe I can't, but
[53:30] we can ask staff to do that.
[53:35] People up here are citizens of this
[53:37] city, too.
[53:38] We don't go home and cross the
[53:41] Saratoga Springs and leave to another
[53:42] community. This is our community.
[53:45] I've talked with several people that are
[53:47] on fixed incomes.
[53:49] I've talked to people that
[53:52] you know, when they first heard the 50%
[53:53] it was higher
[53:55] and we've reduced that. So,
[53:58] why Lance? Why why are we doing this?
[54:00] Um
[54:02] we provided a lot of information. If you
[54:04] don't have the information, once again,
[54:05] we'll work on that.
[54:07] But, I want to let you know we did hear
[54:09] you this exercise tonight.
[54:13] It it was hard. It's it's hard hearing
[54:16] people that you live with, that you see
[54:17] at the store, that you
[54:19] um
[54:20] It's it's Yeah, anyway, I
[54:23] not an easy discussion to have, but I'm
[54:25] glad we're having it.
[54:27] It's something that I think we we need
[54:30] to celebrate that we've been here I've
[54:31] been here in the city for over 25 years.
[54:35] Um the fact that we haven't raised taxes
[54:37] in over 18 years is amazing and I want
[54:40] to applaud the previous councils
[54:43] and everything that got us to where we
[54:45] are.
[54:46] That's different than now. It's a little
[54:48] bit of a different story because of some
[54:50] other in
[54:52] things that have come up because our
[54:53] society has changed. If you look at some
[54:55] of the If you get down to the bare bones
[54:58] of what the police and fire department
[55:00] do, do
[55:01] the calls per citizen, the calls per
[55:03] officer, the calls per
[55:06] employee have gone up.
[55:09] And I think we can bear that in our
[55:11] empirical data.
[55:13] Our society has changed. It's not the
[55:14] society that we were a couple years ago.
[55:16] We have a lot of
[55:19] needs that are rising and coming to
[55:22] fruition because of our society. So, I
[55:25] want to let you know it's not the same
[55:28] culture that it was 20 years ago or 18
[55:30] years ago or 10 years ago. It's changed
[55:32] and
[55:33] we have to have
[55:36] the the responders there to deal with
[55:38] it.
[55:39] Um once again, my vote
[55:42] tonight I was
[55:44] you know, if you would talk to me a
[55:45] couple days ago, it was here or there.
[55:48] And I've counseled with other council
[55:49] members and
[55:51] >> [clears throat]
[55:51] >> um
[55:53] anyway, if you ever want to talk to me
[55:54] afterwards, my public information is
[55:56] there. I would love to talk to you
[55:58] individually or as a group and
[56:01] explain that and anyway,
[56:03] I'm done.
[56:04] Thanks.
[56:08] » Wait.
[56:09] Anybody else before me? Okay. Um I just
[56:11] want to make sure and I know this was
[56:12] brought up lots of times and it might
[56:13] not look like um this is how it worked,
[56:16] but uh hopefully
[56:18] people are aware that um we're
[56:22] this was definitely a data-driven
[56:23] decision. Um
[56:26] we have a lot of very good data in
[56:28] Saratoga Springs. Um our city manager
[56:30] made sure that we had all those numbers
[56:32] and that we needed to be able to um
[56:35] discuss and talk and um come to a
[56:38] determination, but uh
[56:40] we had massive amounts of data that we
[56:43] reviewed and talked about and looked
[56:44] over to be to make this decision. Um
[56:48] So, uh we obviously
[56:51] uh our discussions were not done
[56:53] lightly. Of course, this was a uh
[56:55] heavy discussion every time. Um but it
[56:57] was very uh it was data-driven. Um I
[57:00] just want to make sure people know that.
[57:01] I know that was it came up um in quite a
[57:03] few comments and stuff like that. Um but
[57:05] we have data. We do have that data um
[57:08] to back up what we're trying to um
[57:10] accomplish with this increase. And so, I
[57:13] just wanted to just to make sure that we
[57:16] are we uh
[57:18] we we did look at a lot of it and it it
[57:20] did help us in our decisions on that.
[57:21] So.
[57:26] » I might not be that short. Sorry.
[57:27] Um thank you so much for coming. First
[57:29] of all, thank you so much for your
[57:31] comments for and against.
[57:33] Um they're very reasonable. They're very
[57:35] um
[57:36] important. Um I want to clarify a couple
[57:39] things that I took notes on if I can.
[57:41] Um again, like
[57:43] $1.2 million is shown here to go to
[57:45] public safety right now, but in the next
[57:48] year, [snorts] in the next 12 to 18
[57:50] months, 100% of those funds will be
[57:52] going to public safety. Um they will not
[57:54] be used. Again,
[57:55] >> [snorts]
[57:55] >> we take home about $6 million in sales
[57:57] tax or in property tax right now. We
[58:00] spent 14.5 this year. So, we're
[58:03] subsidizing the rest of the sales tax.
[58:04] We will continue to do that.
[58:07] Um
[58:08] I'm new to city council. I um I've
[58:10] looked over the budget a lot of times
[58:12] being new, uh line by line by line. And
[58:15] what I found over and over again is a
[58:18] really lean city, very efficient. Um we
[58:21] reuse equipment that I sometimes
[58:22] question whether we should we should
[58:23] reuse. We use every strategy I have
[58:25] found to save money where we can find.
[58:28] We're actually one of the only cities in
[58:29] the Wasatch Front that charges the
[58:31] full cost of water rates to developers,
[58:35] which saves residents money. So, we have
[58:36] the lowest water some of the lowest
[58:38] water rates
[58:39] um
[58:40] on the Wasatch Front.
[58:42] And in the budget, there's a lot of
[58:43] department requests that get denied. So,
[58:44] you're seeing the things that got
[58:46] approved, but you're not seeing all the
[58:47] things that got denied. And we have seen
[58:49] a lot of those.
[58:51] Um
[58:52] I think there's a lot of questions
[58:54] around how things are funded. The
[58:55] primary two ways that cities can fund
[58:59] public safety is property tax and sales
[59:01] tax. Um our property tax, as we know, is
[59:04] not even covering half of our public
[59:06] safety cost. Our sales tax has been
[59:08] enough to do that for many years, but
[59:11] it's
[59:12] but we're facing some headwinds.
[59:14] Um there's some proprietary information
[59:16] that I can't say in a public meeting,
[59:19] um but we do have some things that will
[59:21] make it difficult, specifically with
[59:23] this large increase in our firefighting
[59:25] force,
[59:26] to do that. Um but just some numbers
[59:28] that I can share.
[59:30] 2024 we spent 9.8 [clears throat]
[59:32] million in public and combined fire and
[59:35] police.
[59:36] Then it was 12.3, um 14.5. And a lot of
[59:39] this is because it's a really
[59:40] competitive market. We just did um
[59:44] a retirement tier two retirement pick up
[59:47] like a couple weeks ago for our police
[59:49] and fire to better recruit more people.
[59:51] We want the best, most experienced
[59:53] people coming to our city, and I think
[59:55] that's really important.
[59:56] Uh and that costs money.
[59:58] Um
[59:59] and so uh property tax also with the
[1:00:02] certified tax rate as your rate
[1:00:04] as your values go up, the rate goes
[1:00:07] down. Um that's something I didn't
[1:00:09] understand
[1:00:10] before um running for city council.
[1:00:13] And so that doesn't ever account for
[1:00:15] inflation. So we haven't raised property
[1:00:17] taxes in 18 years. I do appreciate lower
[1:00:19] rates, but that's 18 years of inflation
[1:00:21] um that we are considering and trying to
[1:00:24] deal with as we try to keep tax rates
[1:00:27] low. So
[1:00:29] um one other quick clarification or two.
[1:00:33] I believe the city has two Flock cameras
[1:00:35] that we are transitioning away from. Is
[1:00:36] that true?
[1:00:39] The rest are on private property.
[1:00:40] >> locations.
[1:00:41] >> Two locations and we are transitioning
[1:00:43] away. So that resident can rest happy
[1:00:45] that we are trying not to use Flock
[1:00:47] cameras in the future.
[1:00:48] >> we'll be done with them by October.
[1:00:50] >> October. Okay.
[1:00:51] So those will be gone by October. I
[1:00:52] appreciate that is something the privacy
[1:00:55] I think is valid. Um we will not be
[1:00:58] doing that. Um
[1:01:00] and
[1:01:01] there was another question about tax
[1:01:03] breaks to businesses and I'm so happy to
[1:01:05] report that that is something that
[1:01:06] Saratoga Springs does not do.
[1:01:08] Um we have given one tax the previous
[1:01:10] city council gave one tax incentive to
[1:01:13] get Costco that is fully paid for. We do
[1:01:15] not have tax incentives which is pretty
[1:01:17] rare for our surrounding city. Is that
[1:01:19] correct?
[1:01:20] >> That's correct.
[1:01:21] >> Okay.
[1:01:21] So just just because I think are
[1:01:23] valuable things for people to know. We
[1:01:25] really hear you. I really hear you.
[1:01:28] Ultimately, I really ran my campaign on
[1:01:31] public safety because I had looked at
[1:01:33] the numbers
[1:01:34] before I decided to run for office and I
[1:01:36] thought it was really important that the
[1:01:38] city fund this.
[1:01:40] >> [clears throat]
[1:01:40] >> I lived in fire prone areas before. I'm
[1:01:43] very cognizant of what that does. I just
[1:01:44] spent
[1:01:46] 4 extra hours driving to Oregon to avoid
[1:01:49] fires 2 weeks ago
[1:01:51] and I just think that we cannot
[1:01:53] compromise on public safety and it is so
[1:01:55] important and
[1:01:57] I wish there was a way to help people on
[1:01:58] fixed incomes not feel the burden of
[1:02:00] this.
[1:02:01] I prefer smaller increases when
[1:02:04] possible, but I really think that this
[1:02:06] increase is necessary for the stability
[1:02:08] and safety of our residents. So, we are asking for a significant
[1:02:16] investment from our community.
[1:02:18] Here, we're asking for $3.1 million and
[1:02:20] I want to clarify that it is only the
[1:02:23] portion of your city taxes, which
[1:02:25] currently accounts for about 12% of your
[1:02:28] taxes that are going to is going to be
[1:02:30] raised with this. On the average home
[1:02:33] that is
[1:02:34] around $142,000,
[1:02:37] that equals to about $12 per month.
[1:02:42] $12 is $12.
[1:02:44] In some
[1:02:46] budgets, family budgets, that's a
[1:02:47] little. In some families, that's a lot.
[1:02:51] I want to make sure that you get the
[1:02:53] most value for your $12, for whatever it
[1:02:56] is that you're paying for this.
[1:02:58] Some of the data that we looked at is we
[1:03:02] are building a new fire station. We're
[1:03:04] building that new fire station because
[1:03:07] there's a portion of our city
[1:03:09] that the response times are over 10
[1:03:12] minutes.
[1:03:14] The target is around 5 minutes. If
[1:03:16] you've ever
[1:03:18] been on the receiving end of one of
[1:03:20] those calls
[1:03:21] and you're you're it's a life and death
[1:03:23] situation, you know how long 1 minute
[1:03:26] is.
[1:03:27] And so, part of your investment in
[1:03:30] public safety
[1:03:31] is bringing those response times down.
[1:03:34] That is really important. Um
[1:03:37] mutual aid
[1:03:39] Previously, we've been relying on our
[1:03:41] neighbors a lot.
[1:03:43] We've been They've have answered the
[1:03:45] call to help neighbor some of our
[1:03:46] neighbors
[1:03:48] more than we've been able to do that.
[1:03:50] With this, we'll be able to balance
[1:03:51] that. We will be better able to serve
[1:03:54] our own citizens.
[1:03:56] Um
[1:03:58] We want these new
[1:04:00] We will be getting 24 new firefighters
[1:04:03] and six new police officers.
[1:04:05] We want to make sure that they are well
[1:04:07] equipped and well trained.
[1:04:10] Um so, that is my focus. Is I understand
[1:04:12] that this is a big ask from our
[1:04:14] community. I understand that it does
[1:04:17] require sacrifice from from some people.
[1:04:21] Um
[1:04:21] and some some of the family budgets and
[1:04:23] that is that is a strain. So, our
[1:04:26] commitment is to make sure that we give
[1:04:28] you as much value for that dollar as
[1:04:29] possible.
[1:04:33] » Okay.
[1:04:35] Mayor, I do have just I was the first to
[1:04:38] go. I do have some follow-up because
[1:04:40] there are a lot of good points that were
[1:04:42] made. Um
[1:04:43] and I'd asked a an open-ended question
[1:04:45] to Spencer and I'd like to come back and
[1:04:47] address that now.
[1:04:50] Um
[1:04:52] there were choices and there have been
[1:04:53] choices made. Um
[1:04:55] and one of those choices that the city
[1:04:57] council
[1:04:59] had made was to reduce the potential
[1:05:02] merit increase for city staff by 20%.
[1:05:06] Um
[1:05:07] we hated doing that.
[1:05:09] But we felt we needed to um try to
[1:05:12] contain the costs as as much as possible
[1:05:15] because
[1:05:16] even though it's going to cost me about
[1:05:17] $13 port $13 more per month, I said um
[1:05:23] money in my pocket or your pocket is it
[1:05:25] does more good than than money in city
[1:05:27] coffers. Problem is is that our coffers
[1:05:30] can't uh aren't sufficient to handle
[1:05:33] what is needed. And the problem with not
[1:05:36] um
[1:05:37] doing a tax increase in in 18 years is
[1:05:42] that devil that is called inflation.
[1:05:45] And if you look at the cost of
[1:05:47] materials, um they've gone up. Well, is
[1:05:50] it really the cost of materials that
[1:05:52] have gone up? No. It's the value of the
[1:05:54] dollar has dropped by 55%.
[1:05:57] And the the problem with that is that
[1:06:00] >> [clears throat]
[1:06:00] >> your operational costs or our
[1:06:02] operational costs have inflated faster
[1:06:04] than than the CPI. And so, especially
[1:06:07] when it comes to asphalt, concrete, and
[1:06:08] everything that is needed to maintain
[1:06:11] our existing uh infrastructure, yes, new construction pays for all of that,
[1:06:16] but we do have existing infrastructure
[1:06:18] that needs to be maintained.
[1:06:21] The real problem is uh under the
[1:06:22] certified Utah certified tax rate is it
[1:06:25] automatically adjusts down to maintain
[1:06:27] revenue neutrality as home prices go or
[1:06:29] home values go up. So, the existing
[1:06:32] property tax collections don't
[1:06:34] automatically adjust for inflation. Um
[1:06:37] and that's where we get the the problem
[1:06:39] where we've been doing uh what we can
[1:06:42] with the increase in homes and
[1:06:44] businesses that have come into the uh
[1:06:47] into the city. So,
[1:06:50] you can have a strategy inflation uh to
[1:06:52] offset these inflationary losses without
[1:06:54] raising property taxes by
[1:06:56] um sales tax growth. And we've seen
[1:06:58] substantial sales tax growth. Of course,
[1:07:00] some of that's going to leave our city
[1:07:01] now with the opening of Walmart in Eagle
[1:07:03] Mountain and and in Lehi. But they it is
[1:07:06] volatile. Um and the other is the
[1:07:09] revenue from the new residential uh
[1:07:11] developments will help short-term cash
[1:07:13] flows, and it has. But, each new
[1:07:15] subdivision adds long-term maintenance
[1:07:17] uh burdens, more miles, roads, pipes,
[1:07:19] more emergency calls, and we've seen
[1:07:21] that with our emergency calls.
[1:07:23] As uh
[1:07:24] >> [clears throat]
[1:07:25] >> Council member Davenport Port uh
[1:07:27] Davenport pointed out that uh
[1:07:30] 11 uh almost 11 minutes, it's over 10,
[1:07:34] is uh
[1:07:35] is is insufficient. For each minute that
[1:07:37] goes by, um Chief Johnson uh had
[1:07:40] testified earlier uh in a prior Council
[1:07:43] meeting that it's a potential life lost,
[1:07:45] and I've had the uh unfortunate position
[1:07:48] to be in a home where someone's not
[1:07:50] breathing and making the decision on
[1:07:53] what to do there, and every second felt
[1:07:56] like a uh tick in my brain, you know, as
[1:07:58] my heartbeat, until they got there.
[1:08:01] The problem is is that uh as Jolene
[1:08:04] Lincoln had pointed out is that the old
[1:08:06] joke, and my wife and I had that joke
[1:08:08] that
[1:08:09] try to get out of a Costco for $100, and
[1:08:11] now it's $200.
[1:08:13] Um that is the true problem with
[1:08:16] inflation and and what we're trying to
[1:08:18] do here, I believe, is to um
[1:08:21] make that correction and and move
[1:08:23] forward.
[1:08:24] If we have to have changes in future
[1:08:27] years, which I based on the projections,
[1:08:29] that should not need to happen anytime
[1:08:32] soon. I think that was a concern, are we
[1:08:33] going to do it year after year after
[1:08:35] year? This is right-siding um our budget
[1:08:38] uh and on this one time, and it does
[1:08:41] come at a cost, but uh we've we've cut
[1:08:43] as much as we possibly can, in my mind.
[1:08:46] I don't believe I don't like to have see
[1:08:48] costs increase for myself, but uh um
[1:08:51] unfortunately, I'm I'm a I'm
[1:08:53] unfortunately, this is something that we
[1:08:55] have to do.
[1:08:58] >> Okay, thank you. I'm going to talk about
[1:08:59] our our process a little bit. So, if you
[1:09:00] haven't been to a public meeting,
[1:09:02] we have public comment and and public
[1:09:04] hearings, and we we don't have a
[1:09:06] back-and-forth exchange. So, some of the
[1:09:08] questions we try and answer
[1:09:10] after the fact. Um some of these have
[1:09:13] been touched on. These are just some of
[1:09:14] my notes. I wanted to touch on these.
[1:09:16] So, first, the certified tax rate.
[1:09:19] If you're not familiar with how
[1:09:20] certified tax rate works in Utah, and
[1:09:22] staff, keep me honest.
[1:09:24] Every year, the county
[1:09:26] um
[1:09:27] not the auditor,
[1:09:29] >> Assessor.
[1:09:29] >> The county Thank you. The county
[1:09:30] assessor will look at the overall value
[1:09:33] of Saratoga Springs houses and
[1:09:35] businesses for property tax purpose.
[1:09:39] They then assign a tax rate
[1:09:42] to every entity that pays into property
[1:09:45] tax.
[1:09:47] In order for the city of Saratoga
[1:09:48] Springs to collect more money,
[1:09:51] the certified tax rate has to be
[1:09:53] adjusted through truth and truth and
[1:09:54] taxation.
[1:09:56] So, when I look at my personal property
[1:09:59] tax bill
[1:10:00] for the city of Saratoga Springs,
[1:10:05] I paid more to the city 10 years ago
[1:10:08] than I do prior to today
[1:10:12] because
[1:10:13] our growth has brought the tax rate
[1:10:15] down, so the city collects the same
[1:10:18] amount of money. Spencer, am I am I
[1:10:20] hitting that right?
[1:10:21] >> So, new growth is added to that number.
[1:10:23] So, for this year, for example, we would
[1:10:25] be adding for approximately $500,000 in
[1:10:27] new property tax revenue from new
[1:10:30] housing, new businesses being built.
[1:10:31] >> Right. Correct. Okay. So, that's the
[1:10:33] certified tax rate. And we've been able
[1:10:35] to manage We in 18 years,
[1:10:37] we've gone from a volunteer, well,
[1:10:40] part-time fire department. Correct. 18
[1:10:43] years ago. To now being a fully staffed,
[1:10:45] full-time department where I think we
[1:10:46] have two part-time employees in our in
[1:10:49] our firefighting service. So, we've been
[1:10:51] able to manage that growth over the 18
[1:10:54] year over those 18 years using new
[1:10:56] growth.
[1:10:58] The new fire department that needs to be
[1:10:59] built, um
[1:11:01] that will be handled through new growth.
[1:11:04] That's not part of what this ask is. So,
[1:11:07] we can use the question was brought up
[1:11:08] on impact fees. So, when a new home is
[1:11:11] built, impact fees are collected and we
[1:11:13] can use those impact fees to build the
[1:11:16] new fire station. What we can't use
[1:11:18] impact fees for are for the ongoing
[1:11:20] costs of personnel.
[1:11:22] We've been able to grow city staff
[1:11:24] with the growth of the city through new
[1:11:27] growth of new residents and new
[1:11:29] businesses and new sales tax.
[1:11:31] This particular year, and the reason
[1:11:33] this has come up is because we have kind
[1:11:36] of an anomaly. We have to hire a large
[1:11:38] amount of new employees to house the new
[1:11:41] fire station
[1:11:43] and and support the uh additional police
[1:11:45] required. And so, the the increase is
[1:11:51] fully going towards partially funding
[1:11:55] the public safety
[1:11:56] cost that we incur.
[1:11:59] Uh and it's just the the personnel, it's
[1:12:01] not the the fire station. Uh the
[1:12:03] question was brought up on on tax
[1:12:05] incentives and uh Council member Wilson
[1:12:07] talked about this.
[1:12:08] There's only been one incentive in the
[1:12:11] history of Saratoga Springs and it was
[1:12:12] Costco. It was about a 10-year deal and
[1:12:15] it was done in it was paid off in 7
[1:12:17] years and it was not a property tax
[1:12:20] incentive. It was a performance-based
[1:12:23] sales tax incentive.
[1:12:25] So, they received a portion of sales tax
[1:12:28] collected
[1:12:29] from sales at Costco back until they hit a certain number and that we
[1:12:34] projected about a 10-year payoff. It was
[1:12:35] done in about 7 and 1/2 years.
[1:12:38] And we don't have any other
[1:12:40] um
[1:12:41] commercial or um
[1:12:43] residential incentives that we're
[1:12:45] looking at in the future at this time.
[1:12:49] Um other revenue sources, so this is
[1:12:52] something I had to learn early on uh
[1:12:54] when I was on the council.
[1:12:56] When you look at an overall city budget,
[1:12:59] a lot of the money that goes into a city
[1:13:01] budget is is already earmarked and
[1:13:05] um
[1:13:06] dedicated towards the expenses that it
[1:13:09] has to be per state code. So, when we
[1:13:11] look at impact fees,
[1:13:12] uh we can't collect impact fees and pay
[1:13:15] for things that are not intended for.
[1:13:17] And those have to be proven
[1:13:19] through impact fee studies
[1:13:21] um
[1:13:22] that the impact fees collected are going
[1:13:25] to pay for the impact of that growth.
[1:13:28] And we get audited on that by the state
[1:13:30] um to make sure that we are not over
[1:13:32] collecting on impact fees and using them
[1:13:33] for other things.
[1:13:35] And then my final note was on budget
[1:13:37] documents. Uh if you go to the city
[1:13:39] website and you just type in the search
[1:13:41] window budget documents, you'll find a
[1:13:43] couple documents. One, there's about a
[1:13:45] I don't want to guess about a 300-page
[1:13:47] document that's the complete city budget
[1:13:49] and it's there for every year. And then
[1:13:51] there's about a seven-page um
[1:13:54] Huh?
[1:13:54] >> Citizen budget.
[1:13:55] yeah. That for me is
[1:13:57] frankly much easier to understand than
[1:13:58] the but the the larger budget document
[1:14:01] does go through line by line
[1:14:03] uh department by by department on
[1:14:05] uh where every all the spending and all
[1:14:07] the revenue is.
[1:14:09] Okay, are there any other
[1:14:11] questions or comments? Mark, I think you
[1:14:12] might have one.
[1:14:13] >> I just wanted to provide a bit of
[1:14:14] information. Uh there's been several
[1:14:15] questions about new growth. Um I only
[1:14:17] have 16 years worth of data here, but if
[1:14:19] you think of 2009 and 2008, there was
[1:14:23] not a whole lot of new growth happening
[1:14:24] in Saratoga Springs because the market
[1:14:26] collapsed in '27. Uh you know, around uh
[1:14:29] 2007, sorry. Um on average across those
[1:14:33] 16 years, the city has collected
[1:14:35] $266,051
[1:14:38] in new growth over that 16-year window.
[1:14:41] So, some years it was higher, other
[1:14:42] years it was only um
[1:14:45] $2,511
[1:14:47] of new growth in 2011. So, so what we're
[1:14:50] talking about is is over that duration
[1:14:52] of time about a quarter of a million
[1:14:54] dollars a year in new growth tax value
[1:14:56] that has grown for the city. So, again,
[1:15:00] a lot of questions that have been around
[1:15:01] that,
[1:15:02] but but that's the that's the numeric
[1:15:04] growth of what new growth has been over
[1:15:06] that time period.
[1:15:08] >> I think just a couple more comments.
[1:15:10] Yeah,
[1:15:11] over here first.
[1:15:12] >> That's great. I just wanted to say thank
[1:15:14] you.
[1:15:15] When I talk about data data-driven
[1:15:16] decisions from what everybody said that
[1:15:18] that's how we do that. So, I want to I
[1:15:21] want to tell my fellow council members
[1:15:22] thank you for responding to all those
[1:15:24] questions about the data and what we use
[1:15:26] and kind of the why behind everything.
[1:15:28] Hopefully that's helpful
[1:15:31] to everybody why the why behind that
[1:15:33] with our with the data that we have for
[1:15:35] that and just everybody who's here,
[1:15:37] everybody's online, anybody please if
[1:15:38] you still have questions reach out to
[1:15:40] us. Appreciate you guys coming. That's
[1:15:41] what how the process works and we love
[1:15:43] it and it and
[1:15:45] I I hope we hope we answer a lot of your
[1:15:47] questions.
[1:15:49] Like we like mayor said we can't have
[1:15:50] the back and forth at this meeting, but
[1:15:52] we still love to have those. So, please
[1:15:54] reach out if you want to, but thank you
[1:15:56] again for my fellow council members for
[1:15:57] bringing out that date. Kind of a little
[1:15:59] bit of the data that we you know that we
[1:16:00] had in front of us that we could go off
[1:16:02] of.
[1:16:04] » Yep.
[1:16:05] >> Yeah, and also staff keep me honest as
[1:16:07] well. Um
[1:16:08] I wanted to address a little bit of the
[1:16:11] new growth that I found kind of
[1:16:12] interesting. So, the cost of public
[1:16:15] safety per household is just under
[1:16:17] $1,000 a year, 900 to 1,000
[1:16:19] [clears throat]
[1:16:19] if we're at least as similar to
[1:16:21] comparable cities.
[1:16:23] I was looking at a similar size city
[1:16:25] just north of us that
[1:16:27] charges the full cost of public safety
[1:16:29] fire and police to their residents and
[1:16:30] they're spending 947 a year
[1:16:33] for that. We're probably a little bit
[1:16:35] leaner than they are. We might be a
[1:16:36] little bit under that, but let's say
[1:16:37] 900. Um currently the median household
[1:16:40] spends $261 in property tax a year.
[1:16:44] So, the rest of that is subsidized
[1:16:45] through sales tax. Commercial pays a
[1:16:47] little bit more.
[1:16:49] Um 45% more. Um so, every time a new
[1:16:52] house is built, we are subsidizing more
[1:16:55] of the cost of their public service. So,
[1:16:58] even though we are collecting more
[1:16:59] revenue, we are not collecting enough
[1:17:01] revenue. We're hoping um in the past,
[1:17:04] Saratoga Springs has paid about half
[1:17:06] property tax, half sales tax towards
[1:17:09] public safety costs. We're now down to a
[1:17:12] point where projected, if we don't pass
[1:17:14] this tax increase, next year we'll be
[1:17:16] paying 1/3 property tax, 2/3 sales tax.
[1:17:20] We're just hoping to get it back up to
[1:17:22] that that halfway, that 50% level,
[1:17:25] because we believe that's better for the
[1:17:26] stable future. Um if there is a
[1:17:28] recession and the economy crashes, we
[1:17:30] don't have to lay off
[1:17:33] firefighters.
[1:17:34] Um and that that is that is where I come
[1:17:36] down on this decision is when I think
[1:17:37] about growth helps and it also adds
[1:17:40] costs. And so, balancing that and making
[1:17:43] sure that our growth is um sufficiently
[1:17:46] helping with those costs is one of the
[1:17:47] concerns I've had, because
[1:17:49] the especially the sales tax fund is it
[1:17:52] needs to be I do want the library to be
[1:17:54] funded. I do want us to have recreation
[1:17:56] and parks and I was too late signing up
[1:17:58] my kid for for soccer and you know, I I
[1:18:01] get the stress of parents in that
[1:18:03] situation and I do want us to have a
[1:18:05] quality of life and we do want to
[1:18:06] balance that and keep subsidizing with
[1:18:09] sales tax, so we're not paying so
[1:18:11] residents aren't paying the full cost,
[1:18:13] especially people on low incomes,
[1:18:15] especially people with fixed incomes.
[1:18:16] So, this is this decision is just how do
[1:18:19] we balance that? Um how do we come to I
[1:18:22] we really went back and forth on
[1:18:24] what the right number was. Do we want to
[1:18:26] try to, you know,
[1:18:28] go higher, go lower, go over years.
[1:18:31] It is a hard decision, no matter how you
[1:18:33] do it. Um I do you we're really trying
[1:18:36] to balance
[1:18:38] keeping the budget really stable
[1:18:40] in a really fast-growing city that we
[1:18:42] can't always control the growth of while
[1:18:45] we are actually, I think, the 12th
[1:18:47] largest city in the state, maybe the
[1:18:48] 13th at this point. Um we're we're we're
[1:18:51] up there. And when I moved in, I think
[1:18:53] we were like number 26. That was 5 years
[1:18:55] ago. Um so we're we really want to be
[1:18:58] able to provide services
[1:19:00] while keeping taxes as low, and I I'm
[1:19:02] not sure if we've threaded the needle
[1:19:03] perfectly, but we that is what I am
[1:19:05] trying to do here.
[1:19:07] >> Okay, Council any other comments?
[1:19:10] If not, I'll entertain a motion on
[1:19:11] business on public hearing item number
[1:19:13] two.
[1:19:17] Oh, I'm sorry.
[1:19:18] On business item
[1:19:20] uh action item two.
[1:19:22] Thank you, Kevin.
[1:19:28] Motion on action item number two.
[1:19:32] » Uh um
[1:19:33] I move that we consider the resolution
[1:19:35] R-26-44
[1:19:37] dated today
[1:19:39] adopting the certified tax rate for the
[1:19:41] general revenue fund for the fiscal year
[1:19:42] 2026-2027.
[1:19:45] >> Approve or consider? You said consider.
[1:19:47] >> Oh, sorry. I move that we approve
[1:19:50] resolution R-26-44 dated today adopting
[1:19:53] the certified tax rate for the general
[1:19:54] rep
[1:19:55] revenue fund for the fiscal year
[1:19:56] 2026-2027.
[1:19:58] >> Okay. I've got a first from
[1:19:59] Councilmember Wilson.
[1:20:02] » Second.
[1:20:03] from Councilmember Davenport.
[1:20:04] We'll We'll do a roll call vote of the
[1:20:06] Council.
[1:20:07] Councilmember Wadman?
[1:20:08] >> Yes.
[1:20:09] >> Councilmember Barton?
[1:20:10] >> Yes.
[1:20:10] >> Councilmember Davenport?
[1:20:12] >> Yes.
[1:20:12] >> Councilmember Taylor?
[1:20:13] >> Yes.
[1:20:14] >> Councilmember Wilson?
[1:20:15] >> Yes.
[1:20:16] >> Okay, that resolution passes. We'll go
[1:20:17] to public hearing
[1:20:19] item three.
[1:20:21] Public hearing for the City of Saratoga
[1:20:22] Springs final fiscal year 2026-2027
[1:20:25] budget. Presentation of the FY2026-2027
[1:20:29] final budget. Spencer.
[1:20:31] >> Okay. Um
[1:20:33] So this year was a little bit different
[1:20:34] as we've explained before due to the
[1:20:36] property tax. We um normally most years
[1:20:39] we adopt the final budget in May or
[1:20:41] June. Um but due to the property tax
[1:20:44] changes this year
[1:20:46] um we cannot adopt a final budget till
[1:20:49] the new property tax is certified. Um
[1:20:52] and so now that we have a certified tax
[1:20:54] rate um the council can now uh make
[1:20:58] actual
[1:20:59] uh action on the budget and adopt a
[1:21:01] final budget. What we have right now
[1:21:02] since we're already into the fiscal year
[1:21:04] we're operating on an interim budget is
[1:21:05] what it's called.
[1:21:06] And so month and a half of interim um
[1:21:10] council tonight can make an action so
[1:21:11] decide uh to do final budget. Um
[1:21:14] we presented it multiple times. There's
[1:21:15] been no changes to the final budget. Um
[1:21:19] the major changes are mostly concerning
[1:21:22] public safety um with also some other
[1:21:24] changes concerning library and public
[1:21:26] works as well. Any questions for staff
[1:21:27] at this time?
[1:21:30] » No, this is a public hearing so I'll
[1:21:32] open the public hearing
[1:21:33] for
[1:21:36] I got too many pieces of paper action
[1:21:38] item No, public hearing item number
[1:21:40] three.
[1:21:42] Uh please be respectful in your
[1:21:43] comments. Please limit comments to three
[1:21:45] minutes. Time may not be given to
[1:21:46] another commenter. Please avoid
[1:21:48] repetitive comments. Is anybody here for
[1:21:50] public hearing item three?
[1:21:56] Okay, seeing none I'll close public
[1:21:58] comment and turn it over to the council
[1:21:59] for questions.
[1:22:05] Seeing none I'll entertain a motion on
[1:22:07] public hearing item number three.
[1:22:10] » I
[1:22:11] That's just for the public hearing item
[1:22:13] three and then
[1:22:14] >> Four is a consideration
[1:22:16] >> Okay, thank you Kevin.
[1:22:18] So, that is uh that closes out public
[1:22:20] hearing item number three. We'll go to
[1:22:22] uh action item four consideration of
[1:22:24] ordinance 2635
[1:22:26] dated today adopting a final budget for
[1:22:28] FY26-27, including a property tax rate
[1:22:31] increase, compensation schedule for
[1:22:33] elected and statutory officers,
[1:22:35] and compensation increase for defined
[1:22:37] municipal officers.
[1:22:39] >> I move that we
[1:22:40] um
[1:22:40] >> We have Real quick, are there any
[1:22:42] questions on this action item?
[1:22:45] Okay, I'll entertain a motion.
[1:22:46] >> Thank you.
[1:22:47] I move that we approve ordinance number
[1:22:49] 26
[1:22:51] -35, dated today,
[1:22:53] uh ordinance adopting final budget for
[1:22:55] fiscal year 26-27,
[1:22:57] including all property tax rate
[1:22:58] increases, compensation schedules for
[1:23:00] elected and statutory officers, and
[1:23:01] compensation increase for defined
[1:23:03] executive municipal officers.
[1:23:05] >> Thank you. It's got a first from Council
[1:23:07] Member Taylor.
[1:23:10] >> Second.
[1:23:10] >> A second from Council Member Wilson.
[1:23:12] We'll do a roll call vote. Council
[1:23:13] Member Wilson?
[1:23:15] >> Yes.
[1:23:15] >> Wadman?
[1:23:16] >> Yes.
[1:23:16] >> Barton?
[1:23:16] >> Yes.
[1:23:17] >> Davenport?
[1:23:18] >> Yes.
[1:23:18] >> Taylor?
[1:23:19] >> Yes.
[1:23:19] >> Okay, final budget passed unanimous.
[1:23:22] If there uh is there a need for closed
[1:23:24] session tonight?
[1:23:25] >> No.
[1:23:26] need for closed session, so without
[1:23:28] objection,
[1:23:30] we are adjourned.