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Provo • The Utah Taxpayers Association could support a modest property tax increase — the city's first in 20 years — to cover for inflation.
But M. Royce Van Tassell, the group's vice president, said the 16 percent the Municipal Council proposed is beyond the pale — especially after the city went into debt for a new recreation center and Mayor John R. Curtis has suggested a fee to cover the iProvo bond payment.
"It is conceivable that the taxpayers association would support a tax increase around 3 percent," Van Tassell said at a public meeting Tuesday on Provo's proposed tax increase. "But not both."
Council Chairman Rick Healey said the tax increase is justified by the need to maintain service in the city.
"We have tried to maintain a sustainable level of service with the available dollars, and we have gone into a hole," Healey said, referring to past layoffs.
The council is conducting a Truth in Taxation hearing Aug. 9 on its plan to raise the city's portion of the property tax up to 16 percent. Tuesday's meeting in the Municipal Council Chambers for Council District 5 residents, which brought out fewer than 25 residents, was one of four the city is conducting in advance of the hearing.
The increase would work out to a $17.71 annual increase for the owner of a $195,000 home, and raise the total property tax bill 1.5 percent.
The city is planning to add three officers to the police force. The additional funds would go toward hiring four additional police officers, bringing the department's complement up to 100, and funding economic development in the city. The increase will also allow the city to regain some of the buying power it has lost to inflation over the past 20 years, the last time property taxes were increased.
Healey said the city currently has 93 police officers, down from the 99 it had 10 years ago. And Healey, a retired police captain, said the officers are overworked as they try to protect a larger population.
"To be lower than we were 10 years ago is not the right place to be as a city," Healey said.
But Van Tassell said the city should have considered the need for additional police officers before it took out nearly $70 million in bonds for iProvo and the recreation center over the past decade. He said that destroyed some of the cushion the city had in its budget for necessities, such as police officers.
One resident suggested an alternative to a tax hike. Pam Jones said the city should consider increasing fees and fines on behaviors the city does not tolerate — speeding, for example — while lowering fees for building inspections to encourage development and expand the tax base.
While Councilman Steve Turley liked the idea of jacking up fines, Council Vice Chairwoman Midge Johnson said the city cannot raise fees to fund the budget.
"Fees have to be justified. They have to cover costs, not just raise revenues," Johnson said.
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What's next?
P The Municipal Council will conduct a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Spring Creek Elementary School, 1740 Nevada Ave., for residents of Council District 3.
Council Districts 1 and 2 will meet Aug. 3 at Timpview High School, 3570 Timpview Drive, and Council District 4 residents will meet Aug. 4 at Lakeview Elementary School, 2899 W. 1390 North.
Both meetings will start at 6:30 p.m.