Heber City wants to join forces with Wasatch County to make a two-decade investment in downtown developments and, city officials say, create a bigger tax base. The strategy is called a “community reinvestment area,” or “CRA.”
Part of the city’s pitch is that the agreement will not create any new tax or cut into the revenues taxing entities are used to collect. It would take about three-quarters of the increases in property tax values over time, from a designated area.
In a pitch to the county council last month, City Manager Matt Brower used the Smith’s Marketplace under construction as an example of how it works.
“Historically, it’s been a vacant piece of ground, used for agriculture,” Brower said. “Well, now you’ve got about a $45 million investment going on there. If we are able to enter into these interlocal agreements, what will happen is the base, which has been established as the vacant land, would continue to go to you. The increment, or the value above that empty land, 25% would go to you, 75% would go to the city.”
The northern end of the area includes the Smith’s Marketplace and New London residential and commercial development under construction. Heber City, Wasatch County and especially the Wasatch County School District are the primary tax collectors in that area. The school district collects nearly three times as much as county and city governments combined.
Brower said leaders from each government entity involved would help decide how to spend the money.
According to Brower and Heber City’s projections, if everyone gets on board, Wasatch County would eventually collect more in taxes than it otherwise could. And when the contract ends in 20 years, property tax revenues would grow by 75% after new growth and renovations drive up values.
“We believe if we invest the money correctly in the downtown, during that 20 years, it’ll generate additional value that would not have been generated without the increment investment,” Brower said.
He said the city would prioritize investments in downtown parking, public lands and buildings, streetscape amenities on Main Street, a trail convergence hub, and other projects such as a new stage and pavilions at Heber City Park.
Wednesday, about a month after Brower gave that presentation, members of the county council raised questions and also showed support for the idea.
They discussed limiting financial contributions to specific types of projects, which County Manager Dustin Grabau said could be a strategy to make sure the county has influence in the city’s initiative.
Overall, they resolved to schedule a meeting with the Wasatch County School District. They reasoned the district’s share of the money was substantial enough that it didn’t make sense to agree to the city’s proposal without talking to the school board first.
Wasatch County Council Chair Spencer Park said that could be the deciding factor.
“I don’t think there’s any sense for us to do it if the school district does not,” he said. “Now, I get it, that they want us to agree and we want them to agree. I think we can agree together, but we need to be together.”
Councilmember Mark Nelson said the timing could be prime to capitalize on economic growth. He pointed out that several areas of county jurisdiction are within the CRA boundary.
“We're going to get one of those two Olympics, everyone says that and everyone thinks that,” Nelson said. “The last time that happened, there was lots of investment in Wasatch County, and there will be again, and I predict that the railroad will get a significant investment. I think the bypass is also going to be in the timeframe of this CRA, and it's going to have a big impact, hopefully a very positive impact in the tourism area.”
Grabau and Brower said they would seek to arrange meetings with Superintendent Paul Sweat and the Wasatch County Board of Education about the proposal.
Full recordings of the meetings are available here: June 14 and July 12.
