The Summit County Council voted 4-1 Dec. 10 to approve a 5% increase rather than the 15% the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District initially proposed.
Councilmember Chris Robinson, who made the motion to approve a reduced tax increase, indicated a smaller increment is wise to account for inflation.
“That's not the justification that's been primarily given for the tax increase [by Basin Rec]. It's been to add … full time positions and to do other things,” he said. “But there certainly has been an erosion of the district's purchasing power.”
The inflation point was what won over Council Vice Chair Canice Harte, who said the week prior he wouldn’t vote for the 15% increase. Councilmember Roger Armstrong, meanwhile, walked back his previous support for the tax.
Robinson initially proposed a 10% tax rate; Armstrong asked him to amend it to 5%.
“I woke up this morning, and after, I think the lead story on the radio, I looked at [my wife] and said, ‘I can't do this.’ And that was the Affordable Care Act, the subsidy, is going to expire soon,” Armstrong said. “And some people are going to see doubling of their health care budgets.”
The council was supposed to vote on the increase a week earlier but was deadlocked after residents spoke out against it.
Some said the tax represented expanding optional services that people outside of Basin Rec’s taxing boundaries also use, as opposed to taxes that fund less optional emergency response.
Basin Rec has said it’s experiencing increased insurance, trails and maintenance costs. The full tax increase would’ve also covered a full-time accountant, strategic planner, recreation coordinator and a marketing position, as well as a few part-time staff.
Robinson, who missed the previous meeting, also thought Basin Rec would likely need to issue property tax bonds to pay for the new field house proposed next to Jeremy Ranch Elementary School.
Council Chair Tonja Hanson said that was a key reason she voted against even the reduced tax increase Dec. 10.
“If this tax were going into effect and then, in three to five years, you want to put a bond on the ballot? That's going to be tough — that's going to be a tough, tough sell,” she said.
Robinson said Basin Rec accounts for about 10% of his property taxes.
A 15% increase would’ve amounted to an extra $6.10 annually per $100,000 of taxable property value, so 5% cuts it back to about $2.
The recreation district will need to bring a revised budget to the council next week for approval. It needs to be approved this year, and Dec. 17 is the Summit County Council’s final meeting of 2025.
Summit County and Basin Rec are financial supporters of KPCW.
