Summit County’s voters approved the emergency services sales tax in Nov. 2024, as the county struggled to fund the increasing needs of its emergency services.
At the time, the county council considered increasing property taxes through the truth in taxation process, says finance director Matt Leavitt.
“At the time, the proposal was basically: if the voters approved the emergency services sales tax, then the council committed to withdrawing from the truth in taxation process,” explained Leavitt. “So the council wanted to give voters and property owners an opportunity to express how they wanted to collect the revenues, and then the council reacted accordingly.”
Voters chose the sales tax, with 73% in favor. Collections began in June of 2025, and the 0.5% tax brought in nearly $7 million last year. Now, funds are being disbursed for the first time. The county projects it will collect $17.5 million in its first full year of collections, and estimates 65% of those revenues are generated by non-residents.
The tax became an option after the Utah Legislature allowed municipalities to raise a sales tax to fund tourism-impacted agencies, from landfills to law enforcement.
Sheriff Kacey Bates said her office has felt the benefits.
“We're only a year into this, but just in the past budget year, we have been able to plan and ask for different things that we've never asked for before with the emergency sales tax in mind, and it's to benefit the taxpayers. It’s to benefit the people who we are ultimately out there helping,” Bates said.
The tax does not mean, however, that emergency responders and similarly tourism-impacted agencies are receiving millions more in funding.
“The tax allowed us to use that money for those emergency programs, which freed up money that was previously supporting those programs in order for us to use that in other places,” Leavitt said.
In other words, the county can now draw general funds away from emergency response agencies and toward other services.
Summit County Search and Rescue is the one agency receiving a budget increase due the tax – a $120,000 bump. It will use a portion of the funds to move towards a paid model for its corps of currently-volunteer members.
Lt. Alan Siddoway has overseen SAR in the county for over four decades. He said the additional funds mark how far they’ve come.
“Some of the team members remember the era where we responded to calls in a converted ambulance that was outdated before it was converted. And those members are especially appreciative of what we have now, what we've been able to acquire and what we've been able to improve.”
As it moves towards a paid model, Siddoway said he remains “deeply grateful” to the volunteers who have built the SAR program over the past decades.
The county is currently assembling a 5-member advisory committee of residents to help direct the use of the funds.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.