[1:59] Mhm.
[13:49] » Our dear heavenly father, as we come
[13:50] before thee this evening, we're so very
[13:52] grateful that we have the opportunity to
[13:53] gather here and discuss the needs of the
[13:56] city and
[13:57] the area around us. Father, we ask that
[13:59] we may be able to discuss the issues
[14:01] before us and in a peaceful and civil
[14:03] manner and that we may be able to make
[14:04] the best decisions for the citizens in
[14:07] this area.
[14:08] We're thankful for all those who
[14:10] serve our country and to our local area,
[14:13] our firefighters and our sheriffs, and
[14:15] we ask you to watch over and protect
[14:16] them and
[14:17] help them to return return home in
[14:19] safety.
[14:20] We pray for moisture that we need so
[14:23] desperately in this area and throughout
[14:25] the state that we may have the water we
[14:27] stand in need of. Again, we're thankful
[14:29] for all that we have and we love thee
[14:30] and we say these things in thy son Jesus
[14:32] Christ. Amen.
[14:35] » Okay, thank you, Councilman
[14:37] Petty and Councilman Halverson, we
[14:40] appreciate that
[14:41] very much. We're here this evening for
[14:43] one item, only, and that's a public
[14:46] hearing on proposed tax increase.
[14:49] Uh before we get into that, we need to
[14:52] read the following statement that is
[14:54] required by state.
[14:57] If the proposed tax increase is
[14:58] approved, South Weber would receive an additional $12,046
[15:03] in property tax revenue. Those funds
[15:05] would be distributed across departments
[15:07] and used specifically for the following:
[15:10] court supplies, administrative
[15:12] equipment, public safety, emergency
[15:15] preparation,
[15:17] fire uniforms, training, equipment,
[15:19] supplies, and maintenance, building and
[15:22] grounds maintenance, and equipment.
[15:25] Community services, community events,
[15:27] abatements, equipment.
[15:30] Streets, building and ground
[15:32] maintenance.
[15:34] Parking engineering fees.
[15:40] So, with that,
[15:41] uh we've got, like I said, one item. So,
[15:44] we look for a motion to open public
[15:46] hearing on proposed
[15:48] tax increase for 2026.
[15:52] >> Move to open the public hearing.
[15:54] >> Second it.
[15:55] >> I have a motion second by Councilwoman
[15:57] Petty.
[15:58] Uh
[16:00] what we would like if anyone would like
[16:01] to come up,
[16:03] public hearing is open. Please step up
[16:06] to the podium,
[16:07] uh state your name and city, and we'll
[16:09] allow you 3 minutes
[16:11] for comments, and please uh address the
[16:14] entire council.
[16:16] >> Mayor, can we have a vote?
[16:18] >> Just to dot the eyes.
[16:20] >> With a first and a second, let's emotion
[16:22] all in favor.
[16:23] >> Oh, I didn't I do that?
[16:24] >> No, it's okay.
[16:26] >> All those that are in favor of opening
[16:28] the public hearing, say I. I. I. Sorry
[16:31] about that. Bye.
[16:33] >> Thank you.
[16:33] >> Jumping the gun here. Okay.
[16:35] Public hearing is open.
[16:37] Anybody have some comments, please come
[16:39] up.
[16:41] >> I've got young women's in a few, so I
[16:43] thought I'd be up.
[16:45] And I just have to say, oh, Amy
[16:46] Mitchell, 1923 Darren Drive. I'm super
[16:49] disappointed that like this room isn't
[16:51] just filled with residents concerned,
[16:53] and I would want to go knock on all
[16:55] their doors, but
[16:56] we don't have time to do that.
[16:58] Okay. Um I'm here tonight because I'm
[17:00] concerned that we continue to look for
[17:02] ways to increase tax revenue instead of
[17:04] first asking a much simpler question,
[17:07] where can we reduce spending spending?
[17:10] Families in South Weber have to live
[17:12] within a budget. When our expenses
[17:14] increase, we don't automatically get to
[17:16] increase our income. We prioritize. We
[17:19] postpone things that we would like to
[17:21] have. We cut back, and I believe our
[17:23] city should be expected to to do the
[17:25] same before acting before asking
[17:28] residents to pay more.
[17:30] For years, residents have been told that
[17:32] commercial development will strengthen
[17:34] our tax tax base. We brought in the RV
[17:37] center, and now we are adding a
[17:38] development like Quilt Quick Trip, and
[17:41] even more on South Weber Drive with the
[17:43] townhouse development. If this
[17:45] commercial growth is generating the
[17:46] additional revenue we were promised,
[17:48] when do residents actually get to see
[17:51] the benefits?
[17:52] At the same time, we continue to spend.
[17:54] We've seen an approximately 11% raise
[17:58] for our city manager, another raise for
[18:00] our city planner, and a roughly $9
[18:03] million public works complex, and money
[18:05] spent in installing towers for the
[18:08] city's water meter reading system. Maybe
[18:10] there is a justification for each one of
[18:12] these expenditures, but at some point,
[18:15] we have to stop looking at them
[18:16] individually and look at the bigger
[18:18] picture. Do we need all of this right
[18:20] now?
[18:21] There's a difference between a city what
[18:23] a city needs to function well and what
[18:25] would simply be nice to have. South
[18:28] Weber is a small community. We don't
[18:30] need to fund every dream, every new
[18:32] project, or every idea simply because
[18:34] someone believes it would improve the
[18:36] city.
[18:37] And I think we need to remember
[18:38] something else. City staff work for the
[18:41] residents of South Weber. The residents
[18:43] do not work for the city. Our elected
[18:45] official officials should be setting
[18:47] priorities based on what the people who
[18:49] live here need and can afford, not
[18:52] feeling pressured into continually
[18:54] expanding budgets, projects, facilities,
[18:57] salaries, or programs because staff
[18:59] recommends them. Before raising property
[19:01] taxes, I would like to see the city go
[19:03] through its budget line by line and tell
[19:05] residents what has been cut, what has
[19:09] been postponed, what projects have been
[19:12] scaled back and what expenses have been
[19:14] determined to be unnecessary? I would
[19:16] also like transparency about any tax
[19:19] incentives or financial concessions
[19:21] being offered to encourage businesses or
[19:24] developers to build here.
[19:26] If we're giving away future tax revenue
[19:28] to attract development while
[19:29] simultaneously asking existing residents
[19:32] to pay more, taxpayers deserve to
[19:34] understand that equation. A truth in
[19:37] taxation hearing shouldn't be
[19:40] shouldn't only be about explaining why
[19:42] the city needs more money. It should
[19:44] also be about distri-
[19:46] demonstrating that the city has made
[19:49] every reasonable effort to need less
[19:51] money.
[19:52] Residents are already paying more for
[19:54] groceries, insurance, utilities,
[19:55] housing, and nearly everything else.
[19:58] We don't get a raise.
[20:00] We don't get to raise our income by 5,
[20:02] 10, or 11% simply because our expenses
[20:05] increased. We have to make choices and
[20:08] live within our means. I'm asking the
[20:09] city to do the same. Focus on essential
[20:12] services, take care of what we already
[20:14] have, use the commercial tax base we
[20:16] were promised, and be willing to say no
[20:18] to projects that can wait. And most
[20:20] importantly, remember who ultimately
[20:22] pays the bill. The first solution to a
[20:24] budget problem should not always be more
[20:27] revenue. Sometimes the responsible
[20:29] solution is less spending.
[20:31] I would also like you to I would also
[20:33] like to ask for a comparison to other
[20:36] cities of our same size. How many
[20:38] employees do they have? How many are
[20:40] full-time? How many are part-time? What
[20:43] do they get by with? I know that a lot
[20:45] of cities around us have a bigger tax
[20:47] revenue that we do than we do,
[20:50] but we still should live within our
[20:51] means. And that's what I'm asking for
[20:53] tonight. Thank you.
[20:55] >> Thank you.
[21:08] » Michael Grant, 2622 Deer Run Drive,
[21:11] South Weber.
[21:12] Um, I appreciate Amy's comments. Um,
[21:15] I do want you, the City Council, to know
[21:18] that um
[21:19] if um we attend the meeting here
[21:23] after meeting, handful meeting after
[21:25] handful meeting, every single one of
[21:27] them,
[21:28] I have noticed that you guys do go line
[21:31] by line trying to reduce the cost, not
[21:35] add more expenses, retain the good staff
[21:37] that we have by paying them
[21:40] competitive market rates, otherwise they
[21:42] will leave, and that makes things even
[21:44] harder. So, your effort has not gone
[21:47] unnoticed. Of course, there's always
[21:49] room for improvement, and we should keep
[21:51] trying. Thank you.
[21:53] >> Thanks, Michael.
[22:05] » Anyone else?
[22:11] Okay, there's no other comments. We'll
[22:13] look for a motion to close the public
[22:15] hearing.
[22:17] >> Motion to close the public hearing.
[22:18] >> Second.
[22:20] >> All in favor, say aye.
[22:22] >> Aye.
[22:26] » Okay, uh we'd like Dave and Brett if
[22:29] they would
[22:30] give us a lead-in here.
[22:36] » This is going to pull up just a couple
[22:38] of slides that I have here prepared just
[22:40] as kind of background information
[22:43] uh for the public about the process and
[22:47] uh property taxes in general and what
[22:49] this specifically is for the city.
[22:53] >> [clears throat]
[22:54] >> There's really only uh only
[22:56] five quick slides. Uh the first is a is
[22:59] a overview of how property taxes work in
[23:02] Utah, and we've talked about this before
[23:04] but the idea of the state's goal to
[23:08] essential or the philosophy of property
[23:10] taxes is to have the city receive the
[23:12] same amount of revenue year after year
[23:15] and the equation of the property rate
[23:19] times the property value in the city
[23:23] equals the revenue that we receive as a
[23:25] city and the constant is the revenue we receive. So as values change the rate
[23:33] automatically adjusts
[23:35] so that the city receives that same
[23:37] value
[23:39] unless there's a conscious decision by
[23:41] the council to hold that rate or to do
[23:44] something different with that rate than
[23:45] what the county suggests to us through
[23:48] the certified tax rate process. So that
[23:50] teeter-totter effect
[23:52] does happen and and that is what we talk
[23:56] about every year as we go through the
[23:57] budget process.
[23:59] This year we've had the discussion to
[24:01] this point of holding the rate as it is
[24:04] rather than letting it decrease just a
[24:06] little bit.
[24:07] Um
[24:09] there's also a small element of
[24:11] additional property that has been
[24:13] developed additional growth within the
[24:15] city
[24:16] to the tune of about $30,000
[24:20] this year and the estimated revenues
[24:22] from last year to this year with the
[24:25] same rate that we've talked about.
[24:28] That .001434
[24:31] is the rate that we had last year the
[24:33] certified tax rate was proposed by the
[24:35] county at .001421
[24:39] and by holding the rate at 1434
[24:42] the city would receive $13,000
[24:45] more than what the certified tax rate
[24:48] would provide which is an estimated .99%
[24:52] so just less than 1% increase is what it
[24:55] is we're talking about. Um
[24:58] the
[25:00] mayor read through what
[25:04] has been talked about of where that
[25:06] money would go.
[25:08] Um ultimately that $13,000
[25:12] as has been discussed would would go to
[25:16] support transfer for the recreation
[25:18] department and and the tree and trail
[25:22] program at about $2,000 for that and
[25:25] $11,000 for the
[25:28] It's all right. I'll just talk through
[25:29] it.
[25:30] And and then $11,000 for the for the
[25:34] transfer for the recreation department
[25:36] to to support rec.
[25:38] So uh
[25:40] where does that money go or how much is
[25:42] that for each resident? Um the average
[25:45] home price in
[25:47] uh South Weber is
[25:51] $596,000.
[25:53] It ends up being $4.26
[25:56] for the year as the increase. Um
[25:59] approximately $0.36 per month.
[26:03] And that's kind of the the main overview
[26:06] or summary right there.
[26:09] Uh I do have some information in slides
[26:10] of tax rate history and comparison to
[26:13] other cities if if you're interested in
[26:15] seeing those things. Um
[26:18] go to the tax rate history real quick,
[26:20] Lisa.
[26:23] You'll notice there the numbers are
[26:24] really small. It's just presented in two
[26:26] different ways to show
[26:28] uh the actual rate over the last 25-plus
[26:32] years. Uh 1998 until now. And then in
[26:36] graph format you can see how over time
[26:38] the rate has decreased as values have
[26:41] increased. In the early 2010s during the
[26:44] recession as values decreased the rate
[26:47] did increase slightly. But the first
[26:50] time the city went through the truth in
[26:51] taxation process there in 2019 is when
[26:54] you see that big spike.
[26:55] Um and then the philosophy at the time
[26:57] was to maintain a rate
[26:59] uh in that range so that the
[27:03] value uh and buying power of the city
[27:06] wouldn't erode over time.
[27:08] And uh
[27:10] So that's just a graphic representation
[27:12] of where the city's been over time in
[27:14] our tax rate. And then the the second to
[27:17] last slide there is a comparison of uh
[27:20] cities within Davis County.
[27:23] We're right about in the middle. Uh if
[27:25] you include the city rates and special
[27:29] service district rates uh for some of
[27:32] those other cities, then we are near the
[27:34] bottom. We're about the third from the
[27:36] bottom if you also include some of those
[27:38] um
[27:39] special service districts for fire and other services that we take on as a
[27:44] city within our rate. Um but city only
[27:46] rates, that's that's where we're at.
[27:49] So
[27:50] again, last uh last summary is the
[27:52] conversation to this point is hold the
[27:54] rate where it was last year. It gets us
[27:57] an additional $13,000, which is just
[27:59] under 1% increase. And
[28:02] uh for a residential property, that's
[28:05] for an average residential property in
[28:07] the city, it's $4.26.
[28:12] Okay.
[28:12] >> Thank you, Dave.
[28:14] Appreciate that.
[28:16] Comments from the council?
[28:24] » Guess it's just me.
[28:29] Um
[28:30] >> [snorts]
[28:31] >> I want the council to know that I'm
[28:33] um not just trying to be a contrarian or
[28:36] however you say that.
[28:38] Um
[28:39] Like
[28:41] I'm sure I may seem that at times.
[28:43] Um
[28:44] but the reality is
[28:46] I just want to do what's right while I'm
[28:49] holding this office for the city.
[28:52] And I don't know if I'm doing that or
[28:53] not. So, I'm not saying that I'm doing
[28:55] it right and you guys are wrong.
[28:57] I just know that
[28:59] when I sincerely take a look at this and
[29:01] what we are doing and how we are doing
[29:03] our budgeting,
[29:05] um
[29:06] I have problems with it.
[29:08] Um yes, it is $4.26
[29:12] about average for homes here in South
[29:15] Weber that it's going to go up.
[29:17] Um
[29:18] >> [snorts]
[29:19] >> but that's not our $4.26 that we're
[29:22] requiring from every single person that
[29:24] owns
[29:25] a house. Is that affordable? Yeah.
[29:27] That's definitely a trip to Maverick
[29:29] with a candy bar and a drink.
[29:31] But again,
[29:33] if we were looking at our budgeting
[29:36] correctly
[29:37] or the way I feel about it,
[29:39] we'd be looking at the long-term
[29:41] consequences of doing these kind of uh
[29:46] tax increases.
[29:48] We have a uh like Amy said, we have an
[29:51] $8.9 million long-term bondage
[29:55] that we've got to handle.
[29:57] We are nearing the end of our build-out.
[30:01] Pretty soon, I mean I I as soon as we
[30:03] get some of the properties around the hill over here done,
[30:08] all of the money that we're getting from
[30:09] build-out,
[30:10] we're not going to have that anymore to
[30:12] fund this.
[30:15] When you look at our two new businesses,
[30:18] we've got QT coming in, we've got
[30:20] General RV who has been
[30:22] they've told us from the beginning
[30:23] revenue is going to start and it's going
[30:25] to keep on increasing.
[30:26] Um well, the RV industry is going
[30:28] through a reset right now.
[30:30] Um none of us could know that. They
[30:32] couldn't know it. Um but this week is
[30:35] still one of their grand opening sales
[30:37] or one of their yearly sales that
[30:39] they're doing.
[30:40] So,
[30:42] I think we've done the right thing when
[30:44] it comes to bringing in businesses to
[30:47] try to take that burden off of the
[30:49] taxpayers,
[30:51] but it doesn't change when we have that
[30:54] much of a debt coming towards us,
[30:56] and we're still looking at everything
[30:59] just on a Well, this year, it will only
[31:02] cost us four bucks.
[31:04] Um
[31:06] we have
[31:09] as a list of things that if we don't pay
[31:12] for this one,
[31:13] uh
[31:14] we have
[31:16] public-facing services.
[31:19] We don't have anything that says, you
[31:20] know, we're going to slow down on our
[31:21] printer use and go all digital. We don't
[31:23] have And I'm just making things up.
[31:25] When we have things that go, "Okay,
[31:28] these are the things that affect the
[31:30] public, well, let's cut those."
[31:34] And we don't have the A, we're doing a
[31:38] across-the-board
[31:40] sync with all the other cities around us
[31:43] to try to get us into the middle range.
[31:46] South Weber isn't a middle-range city.
[31:49] I love this city. I love our staff. I
[31:51] think they deserve it. I
[31:53] think they deserve better than that.
[31:55] But,
[31:56] we
[31:58] we're a small city with very, very
[32:01] little income,
[32:03] and we are doing a large employee
[32:07] package
[32:08] that we will have to pay for every year
[32:10] going forward.
[32:12] So,
[32:14] while we had
[32:16] savings in our general fund, and we can
[32:19] keep using it, and hopefully, we can use
[32:21] some of that for capital, cuz we've got
[32:23] a lot of capital projects that are
[32:25] coming down that same road, too.
[32:27] And guess what? Right now, with the tax
[32:30] rate and the way we're doing things,
[32:31] we're going to have to bond for that
[32:33] one, too.
[32:35] And as we keep doing this, it's like,
[32:37] well, okay, I need to do this now. So, I
[32:40] need another credit card.
[32:43] I'm just worried that if we don't start
[32:46] looking at
[32:48] here is our revenue and here is how much
[32:50] we're actually trying to spend getting
[32:53] away from all of the one-time
[32:56] ARPA monies and any of these kind of
[32:58] things. We don't even know what the tax
[33:00] rate will be like.
[33:01] Um next year. I'm assuming it's going to
[33:04] be about the same thing maybe a five,
[33:05] six-dollar one.
[33:07] Um
[33:08] but we've got to look at it long-term
[33:10] and so
[33:11] um just for my own personal,
[33:14] I have a hard time or I don't have a
[33:16] hard time. I will be voting no on this
[33:19] because we've got the pits that are
[33:21] moving out further
[33:23] and will not be giving us more money,
[33:25] which is part of the reason why the rec
[33:27] program is is starting to have some
[33:28] issues.
[33:30] We've got
[33:32] so many
[33:34] areas of gray that I don't think right
[33:38] now
[33:39] would been the time to go with an
[33:41] employee across the board sync up with
[33:44] other cities because we're not other
[33:46] cities. Although
[33:48] the employees deserve that.
[33:50] I 100% believe that and state that it's not the employees I'm talking
[33:57] about.
[33:59] This is an overall
[34:01] are we
[34:03] the city that can do this kind of
[34:06] programs and pay
[34:07] and I don't think we are.
[34:10] Thank you for listening.
[34:15] » The only The only comment I have to make
[34:17] and Joel, I would agree with you that
[34:18] there's there's a bigger overall budget
[34:21] discussion that needs to be had
[34:23] and long-term but going back to when you
[34:27] saw that great big spike on that chart
[34:30] and what was that? Eight, years ago?
[34:32] >> Yeah.
[34:33] >> Um
[34:35] that was when I learned that the city
[34:36] hadn't
[34:38] changed the rate or held the rate.
[34:40] They've just let the rate deteriorate
[34:42] since 1970.
[34:43] >> Yeah.
[34:44] >> And
[34:46] I mean, if you look at this as a from a
[34:47] flat tax percentage, just saying you're
[34:49] paying a 10% rate,
[34:51] all we're doing is holding a rate.
[34:55] This is not the [clears throat] $12,000
[34:58] is not
[34:59] the conversation. It's a long-term
[35:01] discussion. Does our city want a
[35:03] philosophy of holding that rate,
[35:05] maintaining it?
[35:07] We still have a bigger discussion on the
[35:09] rest of our budget than $12,000.
[35:12] >> I would agree with you.
[35:13] >> And and last year we let the rate
[35:15] deteriorate. I didn't necessarily agree
[35:17] with that cuz I said we I would I would
[35:20] vote to maintain the rate at the same
[35:22] percentage. I don't want to vote in 5
[35:24] more years to do a 100% tax rate
[35:26] increase again.
[35:28] Cuz that's crazy.
[35:30] But our property tax is minuscule on our
[35:33] budget
[35:35] overall compared to the rest of our
[35:37] total budget.
[35:38] All this is is maintaining a a steady
[35:41] path forward that doesn't even really
[35:43] keep up with inflation
[35:46] when you look at that number.
[35:48] So, I'm I'm in favor for maintaining the
[35:50] rate and that's that's why I'm in favor
[35:52] for maintaining the rate. I think the
[35:53] overall budget discussion is a whole
[35:54] 'nother issue.
[35:56] >> And I agree with you and that's why it
[35:57] tears me apart.
[35:58] >> Yeah. But we've we've had this budget
[36:01] discussion for a long time. So, and I knew where you stood. So, I'm not This isn't directed to you. I
[36:05] was just explaining why I am in favor of
[36:07] maintaining this rate.
[36:12] » Anyone else?
[36:18] » I feel the same way with Blair. We need
[36:20] to maintain that rate. When I first came
[36:22] in as mayor and
[36:24] uh we discussed that and and
[36:28] as Blair said without
[36:30] repeating it again, but we need to
[36:32] maintain that rate.
[36:34] If you don't, you're going to fall way
[36:35] off and you're going to have that large
[36:37] increase some years down the road.
[36:39] So,
[36:41] and
[36:45] So, that's what we are proposing. We're
[36:46] holding the rate. We are getting $12,000
[36:49] more by holding the rate, but it's the
[36:51] same rate that we used last year.
[36:54] So.
[36:57] Any other comments?
[36:59] No comments, we'll look for a motion.
[37:06] » Mayor, I move to approve resolution 2632
[37:09] tax year 2026 certified property tax
[37:13] rate of 0.00143.
[37:18] » We have a motion, do we have a second?
[37:20] >> Second.
[37:22] by Jeremy Davis. Uh, we'll do a
[37:24] roll call vote starting with Council
[37:26] Windsor.
[37:27] >> I
[37:31] >> Okay, 4-1, motion carries.
[37:35] Appreciate that.
[37:37] And that's our agenda
[37:39] for this evening.
[37:41] Look for a motion to adjourn.
[37:43] >> Move to adjourn.
[37:44] >> Second.
[37:45] >> All in favor say I.
[37:46] >> I