Heber City has proposed property tax increases and is holding a public hearing Wednesday to give residents a chance to weigh in.
It would be the first time the city has increased property taxes since 2014.
The proposed property tax increase on a primary residence in Heber City is about 10%. That comes out to an increase of about $22 a year for a home worth $400,000. On a million-dollar home, the increase would be about $55 a year.
For a business property worth $400,000, the increase would be just over $40 a year.
“What we hope to do in this Truth in Taxation hearing is to present the case to the public who choose to attend and hear back from them,” Mayor Kelleen Potter said. “I know it’s difficult; no one wants a tax increase, and certainly no elected official wants to vote for one. But what we’re seeing in this city is an increased dependence on sales tax revenue, and it’s a volatile source of revenue because those things change when there is inflation and when we have a recession.”
The city has bought land and intends to buy more soon, including for open space preservation. Potter said that spending and possibly increasing city employees’ salaries soon could put stress on the city’s reserve fund.
“I don’t know if it’s alarming,” she said, “but it’s concerning as we project to the future. We don’t want to see our reserve fund go lower and lower in the future, so this is an increase that will make sure that we’re keeping up with some of the inflationary costs and some inflation that tends to be happening to all of us. This is the council’s attempt to say, ‘Look, this is a responsible decision, it’s not extreme, it’s not a huge increase. It’s a small dollar amount because of the small percentage that we are of the total property tax bill, but they believe it’s the responsible thing to do.”
Of the property taxes Heber City residents pay, the city receives 8.5 cents of every dollar dollar. The Wasatch School District receives about 66%, and Wasatch County gets 15%. The remaining 9% goes to fire protection, the county special service district and the Central Utah Water Conservancy District.
The public hearing Wednesday is at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.
