[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

2026.08.11 South Weber City Truth in Taxation Meeting

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