The Snyderville Recreation District is proposing a property tax increase. Director Brian Hanton said they’re aiming to maintain and improve the recreation amenities they’ve provided in recent years.
A public hearing on the tax hike is set for early December, during the County Council’s budget process.
Hanton said last time the District raised taxes was 15 years ago.
“Back in 2004, we had 66 acres of open space,” Hanton explained. “Now we have over 2500 acres of open space. We had two community parks, now we have three, and we’ve added a bunch of amenities to those parks. And a lot of those are non-revenue-generating activities. The community’s been great in supporting our bonds. And now we have to take care of those amenities that we’ve put in because of those bond funds. It’s something that’s been needed for a while. And our crews have done a great job of kinda piecing things together. But as we acquire more open space and have more open space responsibilities, there’s lot of costs that come to that.”
He said they have playgrounds and park spaces that are aging.
The tax hike is tentatively in the District’s 2020 budget. He said the Rec Board is still defining how much the tax increase will be, but it’s likely to be substantial.
“We went from the number of the average home of $900,000 with the increase was just over—I want to say it was about 100 dollars a year,” Hanton continued. “So it is a substantial increase for our taxpayers. But as we continue to put more out, our community survey that we just did. I mean, the majority, the strong words were, We want more, we want more. So we’re trying to do that, but we want to maintain the investment that we’ve currently put in.”
Meanwhile, one specific improvement is taking place this week. Hanton said they’re putting in a new yoga floor at the Basin Fieldhouse. After checking with other facilities, they’re planning on a softer covering.
“We did some research,” Hanton said. “We checked out the MARC facility. We went down to Salt Lake and checked out a few of those—the yoga studios down there. So hopefully it does have a little more cushion to it for those that are on the floor.”
Hanton added that yoga patrons should check the District’s schedule to see where activities will be held this week.
