[0:03] We would like to welcome you to the Hooper City Council Truth in Taxation

[0:09] meeting. For those of you that are watching

[0:11] online, if you looked at the agenda that was a posted on our website, you see a

[0:16] Zoom link and there are instructions where you can

[0:20] » [clears throat] >> go into the Zoom link. If you will raise

[0:24] your hand, then our city recorder Morgan Yeoman will be able to let you in and

[0:29] you will be able to participate by Zoom. So, we just want to let everyone know if

[0:34] you have any questions at all, make sure you raise

[0:37] your hand and we will let you in. I am Mayor Sherry Bingham. I'm going to be

[0:41] conducting this meeting. We are going to have a pledge of allegiance by Council

[0:46] Member Hancock and a reverence by Council Member

[0:50] Robledo.

[0:57] » Please repeat with me. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[1:02] United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation

[1:09] under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[1:15] » [clears throat]

[1:20] » Our Father in Heaven, as we come before Thee at this council meeting here in

[1:24] Hooper, we give Thee thanks for the opportunity that we have to help this

[1:30] town the people that live here and we're

[1:34] grateful for all the good people that we have living out here. We ask Thee to

[1:37] bless them and their families and their lives.

[1:41] And at this time we ask Thee to

[1:45] bless us with more moisture here in this state as we're in desperate need and

[1:51] we ask Thee to bless our residents and those that participate and communicate

[1:58] with us that they'll be calm and peaceful and

[2:03] they'll be open to listen to us and understand us and

[2:10] that they can share that with their

[2:14] children and those that they live with. We ask thee

[2:18] bless us this night as we talk about truth and taxation that

[2:23] we'll all be able to be open and understanding and

[2:27] we pray that everything will be explained in detail in this and in Jesus

[2:32] Christ's name.

[2:35] » Thank you. So, this is a public hearing. So,

[2:39] [clears throat] I need someone if they would make a motion for us to enter into

[2:44] a public hearing.

[2:47] » I'll make >> I motion that we enter into a public

[2:50] hearing. >> The motion was made by council member

[2:52] Hancock. Is there a second? >> I'll second.

[2:55] » Second was made by council member Rapaleto. All in favor?

[2:59] » Aye. >> Any opposed?

[3:02] Okay, we are moving into a public hearing. So, if there's anyone that is

[3:07] here in person that would like to come up and make a comment, you have 3

[3:13] minutes. If you would come up and state your name and our city recorder has time

[3:18] cards that will let you know when your time is up. And the same thing if we

[3:22] have anybody online, she will be watching for those.

[3:32] Yes, if you just state your name. >> Hi, I'm Valerie Stewart and I'm new to

[3:35] Hooper. I just moved here in May and we love it down here. We love our home and

[3:40] and so far we love all of the people. Um

[3:43] I just saw the notice in the paper that the taxes were going to go up 46% on a

[3:48] $630,000 home, which is about $45 a year.

[3:54] So, my question to you is what is going up in the budget? What

[3:59] aspects? So, I went over last year's budget and I, of course, I can't tell

[4:03] what you're proposing this year. So, that that's my question. What's raising

[4:07] and what? >> Okay. Thank you, and that will be um

[4:11] explained here in just a few minutes. Thank you.

[4:16] Anyone else have anything? Do we have any online

[4:20] that are trying to >> No.

[4:24] No. No online. >> Okay, we don't have any online. So, we

[4:28] are going to then move back into our regular meeting. So, if I can have a

[4:33] motion to move back into our regular meeting.

[4:38] » I motion to move back into our regular meeting.

[4:41] » I'll second. >> The motion was made by council member

[4:44] Rapuano. It was seconded by council member Heal. All in favor?

[4:48] » Aye. >> Any opposed?

[4:50] Okay, now we are back in our regular meeting and I am going to turn the time

[4:54] over to Kami Moss, who is the city treasurer.

[5:07] » So, Malcolm's pulling up a summary that um the council all has that just

[5:13] If you go to sheet one real quick Um so,

[5:19] as part of the bud- this is the proposed budget that we've been over. This is

[5:24] just a summary sheet. Um it's been available on public

[5:27] inspection and everything. Um we did um also adopt a tentative budget um to

[5:34] operate on. Uh it's pretty much outlined as we've

[5:37] said. Um the one thing that I was just going to point out is we did talked

[5:42] about that impact fee studies and how that didn't get completed last year, so

[5:47] it rolled into this year. So, um is there any questions the

[5:51] council has for me relating to that? Or I think we've been through it.

[5:58] Um So, I'll explain real quick just so

[6:02] um because the question was brought up that the $128,000

[6:06] property tax increase does equate to 46.55%

[6:11] property tax increase. The $128,000 is going through

[6:15] um towards the additional fee that the um police with our contract with the

[6:22] Weber County Sheriff's Department has requested for our fees for that. So,

[6:27] their fees for us for the year went up $128,000.

[6:33] So, we are doing truth in taxation to try and get the $128,000

[6:38] to pay their increase. So, that pretty much is the summary of why

[6:44] we are doing that. >> Maybe just to make it not too obvious to

[6:46] hire six additional officers. >> Yeah.

[6:49] » So, that was the reason. >> were the increase. Yeah.

[6:51] But, we don't we don't really have much of an option

[6:56] as far as that goes. They pretty much

[6:59] have looked at our options for the moment

[7:03] that we can come up with. >> And may I just say, I really appreciate

[7:07] everybody goes by percentages and it sounds so bad. I'm so glad that you

[7:12] mentioned it went up $45. And that uh because the percentage is it

[7:17] sounds horrible, 46%, but you know, [clears throat] a dollar

[7:22] a week isn't as bad and yeah, like they said, it's just for and

[7:28] I'm not trying to pick on you back here. You picked a bad night

[7:34] Yeah, exactly. That's what I said. But, where's Kirtland? He knew what was going

[7:38] on at the time. >> [laughter]

[7:39] » So, So, I just want to thank you. >> Yeah. Well, and um

[7:44] always, you know, when we do those increases, because our

[7:49] property tax is so low in Hooper, it appears

[7:54] more than we're actually getting. So, you know, one thing I'll just

[8:00] say is that when people get their property tax notices, look at the line

[8:04] items. Don't just look at the dollar amount and see, you know, what actually

[8:08] goes to the city, cuz it a lot of it goes to other places. We don't get all

[8:12] of your property tax. So, you know, it's not just

[8:17] that we do this lightheartedly. It's something that we've obviously not tried

[8:22] to do a lot in this city. >> Or one interesting

[8:27] portion of that that I wouldn't mind and several people probably have, Hooper

[8:31] City actually gives less back from the county than is allocated to the library.

[8:37] We're below that on the amount of of money that we get back from the taxes

[8:41] you pay to the county. So, it makes it the portion that we get back is

[8:47] very small of the amount of money that that is assessed by the county, but they

[8:53] do do a lot of things. But, another thing I don't think a lot

[8:56] of people understand is we also pay our own law enforcement. We've had some

[8:59] people in the past that thought that was part that came out

[9:03] of their assessment to the county, but it's not. We we pay our own law

[9:09] enforcement separately. So, it makes it very difficult for us if we

[9:13] don't keep up with that stuff, cuz we just don't have enough in reserves to

[9:18] keep servicing that kind of a debt every year. It would eat up any uh

[9:24] funds that we have available quickly for emergencies. And we're probably going to

[9:29] have some emergencies in the not-too-distant future with sewer

[9:33] systems and such. So, thank you.

[9:37] » Okay, so, um I won't go through this whole summary. If you want me to, I can

[9:42] answer any questions, but I think we've gone through it quite a bit.

[9:45] I don't see a need to read you a bunch of numbers.

[9:50] Is there any questions that you guys have?

[9:53] And again, this has been available on the public website.

[9:57] » I just had a quick question on the fund balance for the sewer,

[10:01] what we talked about last time. Is that including

[10:04] » That's not included in there. Like I said, we already publicly noticed this,

[10:09] so I didn't feel comfortable putting that in there because we had 14 days we

[10:15] had to have this out, and that was within that 14-day window. So

[10:19] because of the laws that are in there, I didn't feel comfortable changing the

[10:24] budget that we had already noticed to adopt. So we're going to have to amend

[10:29] for those. So we yeah. Yeah, very good question, right? And so, you know,

[10:33] that's something that we talked about that we'll probably amend, but I didn't

[10:37] feel comfortable doing that, if that makes sense, because it could possibly

[10:42] jeopardize us with the state not doing things exactly according to the law.

[10:47] » Makes sense. Thank you. >> Uh-huh.

[10:49] » And then the storm water fund balance, which was -745.

[10:53] Off the top of your head, do you know what our storm balance is?

[10:56] » Um I'll look that up. >> I'll look that up after that.

[10:58] » Give me 2 seconds. Grab my laptop.

[11:09] Sorry, it's going to take me more than 2 seconds, but I'm happy to pull it up

[11:12] real quick here.

[11:23] Okay, you want it storm water, right?

[11:25] » Right. >> Um

[11:28] and this is just ballpark. Um

[11:48] Are you looking for what it is currently?

[11:51] » Uh what it is >> Or [snorts] after we do this?

[11:54] » After we do this. >> Okay. After we do this

[12:28] Um we're looking about 120-ish. >> Okay.

[12:32] » So it is, you know, >> Pretty substantial.

[12:34] » yeah, quite a bit, yeah. >> Hey,

[12:36] you just you said big numbers on these decreases and you think, man, how much

[12:40] is really in there to take this much away? What are What are What are we at?

[12:44] What are we left with? >> Yeah, yeah, very good, very good.

[12:47] » Thank you. >> Yes, uh-huh,

[12:48] you got you.

[12:52] » Anything else? >> Okay, so Malcolm, I'm going to have you

[12:55] pull up the other sheet that I asked you to do.

[13:01] » The notice. >> The notice, yeah.

[13:09] Okay. So I know you've all had this available

[13:13] and stuff, but I'm going to read it just to make sure that we cover

[13:17] what we're supposed to. I'm trying my best to because as we all

[13:22] for the public, in case you didn't know, the state auditor, or not the state

[13:25] auditor, but the state has changed the property tax truth in taxation process

[13:30] and it was very particular. So, I just want to make sure the best I can to

[13:35] cover ourselves with everything. So, I'm sorry if I'm redundant, but I don't want

[13:39] to have a problem.

[13:41] » [laughter] >> So,

[13:42] um this is the notice of the property tax increase for Hooper City. Hooper

[13:46] City is proposing to increase its property tax revenue. Uh

[13:50] Hooper City's tax on a $630,000 residence will increase from 95.98

[13:58] to 140.68, which is an increase of $44.70

[14:04] a year. Prop- Hooper City is tax on a $630,000

[14:09] business will increase from 174,050. Sorry, 174

[14:17] 51 dollars to 255.78,

[14:23] which is an increase of $81.27 a year.

[14:28] If the proposed property budget is approved, Hooper City will receive an

[14:33] additional 128,000 in property tax revenue per year as a

[14:38] result of the tax increase. If the proposed tax is approved, Hooper City

[14:44] will increase its property tax budgeted revenue by 46.55%

[14:49] above last year's property tax budgeted revenues ex- excluding new growth.

[14:55] Hooper City invites all concerned citizens to this public hearing. Um

[15:00] and also to do the comments, which we just had. Um about the proposed property

[15:07] tax increase. Um and then of course it lets you know

[15:10] the public hearing date and time, which is right now, and the location is here.

[15:15] So, at the city hall. Um so, I think that covers us with all of

[15:20] that. That's to the best of my knowledge. So.

[15:24] Okay? And then I will also make note that on the table was the Weber County

[15:30] notice of proposed tax increase that is required to be available for the public

[15:35] as well. And that has also all those have been on our website as well. So.

[15:40] Along with the budget. I think I've covered everything.

[15:43] » [laughter] >> So,

[15:45] okay? So, it's up to you guys now.

[15:50] » All right. You have that? Can you tell us what the Because I know

[15:53] they're going to be approving a certified tax rate, which

[15:57] they're going to have have to read that when they make the motion.

[16:01] Yeah. So, is that on here and I'm missing it?

[16:03] » I've noted it in the resolution as well. >> Oh, okay.

[16:08] Good. Thank you. Yeah. >> I don't have it right here cuz I didn't

[16:11] print that one out. >> Okay.

[16:12] Thank you. >> So, yeah. We'll need to when we if we do

[16:15] the action items on A, um the approval of the tax rate will

[16:21] have to say the tax rate and say that we're approving that specific rate.

[16:26] And then also um on the on B, if we adopt the proposed property tax

[16:33] increase, we need to say we're adopting the budget just as it says on the agenda

[16:38] that except without the possible that we're

[16:41] approving the 2026-27 budget with the property tax increase or

[16:46] without it. Okay?

[16:49] » Okay. Any questions on that when you go to make the motion? Okay. With that

[16:53] then, okay, is there someone that would want to make a motion of the approval of

[16:58] resolution number R-2026-02 approving the certified tax rate?

[17:06] » I'll go ahead and make that motion uh Make the motion to approve resolution

[17:11] R-2026-02 approving the certified tax rate of

[17:15] 0.000283.

[17:20] » I'll second the motion. >> For the 2026-2027 budget.

[17:25] » Okay, the motion was made by council member Hill.

[17:28] » Second. >> Second made by council member Hancock.

[17:31] Any discussion on this motion?

[17:35] Okay, this will need to be done by a roll call vote. We will start with

[17:39] council member Hill. >> I.

[17:41] » Council member Rappalano. >> I.

[17:43] » Council member Hancock. >> I.

[17:45] » Okay, that resolution is passed. Okay, now we have our second resolution,

[17:51] which is R202605, approving the 2026-2027

[17:57] budget with possible proposed tax increase. Is there someone that would

[18:01] like to make that motion? >> I'll make a motion of the approval of

[18:06] resolution number R-2026-05,

[18:11] approving the 2026-2027

[18:16] budget with proposed tax increase.

[18:21] » Okay, the motion was made by council member Rappalano. Is there a second?

[18:26] » I'll second. >> The second is made by council member

[18:29] Hancock. Any discussion on the motion? Okay, we will again do this by roll call

[18:35] vote. This time we will start with council member Hancock.

[18:38] » I. >> Council member Rappalano.

[18:40] » I. >> Council member Hill.

[18:42] » I. >> That motion that resolution passes with

[18:45] that motion as well.

[18:48] Okay, that is all we have on our agenda tonight. As required by state, we cannot

[18:54] have anything else, and so I just need a motion for adjournment.

[18:59] » I'll make a motion to adjourn. >> We have a motion by council member Hill.

[19:02] Is there a second? >> I'll second.

[19:05] » Second by council member Hancock. All in favor?

[19:07] » I. >> Any opposed? Okay, we are now adjourned,

[19:11] and thank you for coming. >> Oh, the moral.

[19:24] » I sent you my email.

August 6, 2026 - City Council Meeting

Transcript