TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
AUGUST 15, 2023
Members Present:
Connie Archibald
Wes Estep
Bret Rohde
Rick Seamons
Lyle Vance
Lyle Holmgren, Mayor
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Marc Christensen, Assistant City Manager
Linsey Nessen, City Recorder
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Mayor Holmgren called the August 15, 2023 City Council Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was held in the Tremonton City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Mayor Holmgren, Councilmembers Archibald, Estep, Rohde (joined via Zoom at 7:12 p.m.), Seamons (joined via Zoom), and Vance (joined via Zoom at 7:12 p.m.), City Manager Warnke, Assistant City Manager Christensen, and City Recorder Nessen. The following Department Heads were also present: Interim Fire Chief Chris Scothern, Assistant Police Chief Brian Crockett, Public Works Director Paul Fulgham, Treasurer Sharri Oyler and Downtown Manager Sara Mohrman.
1. Opening Ceremony:
Mayor Holmgren informed the audience that he had received no written or oral request to participate in the Opening Ceremony. He asked anyone who may be offended by listening to a prayer to step out into the lobby for this portion of the meeting. The prayer was offered by Councilmember Archibald and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilmember Estep.
2. Introduction of guests: Mayor Holmgren welcomed those in attendance.
Mayor Holmgren said this is an important evening for all of us here in Tremonton as we hold this public hearing to discuss the potential of raising property taxes. The reason for this is to increase our police department, which is under staffed. They are on-call by themselves, which creates dangerous situations for the public and our officers. The intent is to increase the officers we have and serve the community in a better way. We are also looking at providing the equipment and resources needed to do their job. A planner is also part of the public safety issue. We are growing and want to grow right.
3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.
4. Approval of Agenda:
Motion by Councilmember Archibald to approve the agenda of August 15, 2023. Motion seconded by Councilmember Estep. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – absent, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – absent. Motion approved.
5. Presentation on Proposed Property Tax Increase
Assistant City Manager Christensen said we have discussed the budget since February and realized there are holes in our departments for police and planning. This is mainly for the public to speak, but I want to give background on what this means to the public, the impact it will have and how we got to this point. About a year ago we went through a branding process and adopted a mission and vision. Our mission is to create a safe and welcoming community where neighbors feel connected to each other and can enjoy life. What is proposed in this property tax increase is helping the community become safer and more welcoming. In the police department there are five full-time proposed positions—one sergeant, three officers and one civilian. They will also have ongoing equipment and fuel. That is estimated at about $888,000. The planning department is one additional employee. With benefits and salary combined that would be about $133,000. We would have $1,020,909 of ongoing revenue. When funding employees you want it to come from a reliable source like property taxes that guarante the same amount of revenue from last year. Sales taxes can fluctuate.
Assistant City Manager Christensen said so what does this mean for citizens? Last year if you had a home valued at $375,000 then you paid $2,127 in property taxes. Tremonton received $451 of that. We do not have control over how much other entities in the County tax on your property so we focus on Tremonton’s portion. Last year it was 21% of your total property tax bill. This year, if your home remains the same value and Tremonton increases our portion of the property tax by 50% you would go from paying $451 up to $626 or nearly $15 a month. You would pay 50% more on the 21% portion of last year’s property tax. Historically, since 1997 Tremonton has raised property taxes through Truth in Taxation only one time. The City is only guaranteed what they received the past year plus new growth.
Assistant City Manager Christensen said why are we doing this? The current status of the Tremonton/Garland Police Department is that they are providing minimal service for our City. They respond to calls, but are very limited when it comes to proactive policing. Their shifts are filled, but if someone goes on vacation, administrative leave or is sick it puts the officers at risk. That puts them down to the minimum staffing of one officer on duty. We would like to make that minimum staffing standard two officers. With more officers they can spend more time being trained and keeping our City safe through proactive policing. Currently we have four crews who work 12-hour shifts on patrol. There are two officers on duty. We do not have the additional officers to cover those who are out. If we get the proposed staffing model it will go to three officers and when someone is out there will still be two officers on duty. A planner would be considered part of the community development department. Currently we do not have a full-time planner or a full-time planning and zoning administrator. We are proposing one FTE that would take on both of those roles. This has created delays and frustrations when people have called in with planning and zoning questions. We have a contracted building official, but he is not a City employee and is available on a limited basis. Our city manager has a background in that and is available for these calls, but we are seeing an increase in his time. He is doing things on top of his work. There are so many sections to the City and the planning is taking away from the time to stay ahead.
Assistant City Manager Christensen said we have two weeks to consider your public comments. No decisions will be made tonight. By law we have to draft a final budget that has to be adopted in two weeks so we have time to resolve your concerns and consider public comments. On August 29 we will have an open meeting and that is when a final budget has to be passed. The Council could take on the whole property tax increase, a portion or none at all. The public can and is encouraged to received tax relief and exemptions if they qualify. Homeowners can also dispute their home assessment.
Mayor Holmgren called a Public Hearing to order at 7:24 p.m. to hear public comments regarding a proposed property tax increase. There were 44 people in attendance.
6. Public Hearing regarding the proposed property tax increase
Note 1: Under Utah Code 59-2-919 8(b)(ii) The City shall provide an interested party desiring to be heard an opportunity to present oral testimony: 1) within reasonable time limits; and 2) without unreasonable restriction on the number of individuals allowed to make a public comment.
Note 2: Under Utah Code 59-2-919 (9), the City is announcing that the City Council will make a final decision on budgeting additional ad valorem tax revenue at the August 29, 2023, City Council meeting to be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Tremonton City Offices, in the City Council Chambers which are located at 102 S. Tremont Street.
Mike Ransom said I understand the need for police protection, but the question I have is how many police do you have per population? Councilmember Archibald said right now in Tremonton City we have about 1,000 per officer. Garland has one officer for every 680 people. Mr. Ransom said I understand the increase in the police department and if you do not have a planner, you cannot plan your city, but the people who moved in, did they not bring money with them? Why are we being taxed? Mayor Holmgren said last year that additional tax was about $80,000 due to growth and this year it is about $30,000. Those are good, but do not cover what we need. Mr. Ransom said for my property taxes, every year I have to fight because they have increased my assessed evaluation along with what they think my home is worth. The first year was a 62% increase, then 42% this year. The average value is 13% in Tremonton. Somehow my property taxes go up significantly more. You guys get increased income because the value in the City goes up and the reason it goes up is because we have a really nice city. We are not Chicago and do not need five officers per 1,000 people, but we should have at least two and maybe three per thousand. I am whining because my property taxes are going up significantly faster than the average house in Tremonton and I do not like it. Manager Warnke said you are seeing property tax increase throughout the years, but the City gets the same amount of revenue plus new growth. Shifts do occur between one property owner to the next. Some pay more while others pay less. The County assessors are always looking at values and factor evaluations. We are receiving the same amount of value plus new growth. The only way we have control over the dollar amount we receive is through Truth in Taxation where the Council says we need this much more in revenue to run the City. We can change the certified tax rate to a different value to generate the amount of revenue we need.
Brian Liechty said that is confusing, why would mine increase and someone else’s would go down? Looking through my history of just the Tremonton portion of property taxes from 2020 to 2022—they have increased by 50% and now they are going to increase by 50% again. In three years, that is doubling my Tremonton portion of taxes and that is significant. I hope that is considered in this next increase. On charts you show the two big industries, but we got a big bump and then there was an increase due to property values increasing. That has more than doubled in three years. Manager Warnke said we went through Truth in Taxation in 2021 when we first started seeing problems in our staffing for fire and EMS. Previously the City had a volunteer fire department. For lots of reasons that model started to break down based on call volumes and composition of volunteers. The Council went through Truth in Taxation to change the certified tax rate and generate an additional $220,000. That was for the fire department to have full-time staffing. This year we will do the same. The fire fund has ambulance and EMS revenues so we are banking on those covering this additional staffing for fire. We are adding three more captains to sure up first responders for fire and EMS. Mayor Holmgren said check with me after and we can walk through it to answer your questions, we do not want you more confused than when you came.
Russell Scott said the characteristics of government whether local, state or federal is the insatiable desire for taxing people and their properties. A book called Law says that taxes are nothing but legalized plunder. With gasoline prices high, food prices high, my electricity bill went up another $90 and my natural gas went up $45, then water, sewer, and car insurance, which went up on me even when I have not had a wreck in years. Also, home insurance is going up—all of this is rising. Now we have to add on that this constant arbitrary assessment on our homes and businesses and with that the raising of taxes on that unrealized assessment along with the tax increase is way too much. I did receive a pay increase per hour at work this year, but with all these increasing utilities, taxes, and food to stay even on my budget I will now have to find things to cut in my house to keep up with this. I could have saved money on fuel by not coming here or working the extra hours, but I have to clear my conscious and tell you no on this tax increase. I do not want to steal other people’s money. Over the past years my taxes have increased by $460, $360 and now almost $600. If you take into account that plus the assessment of your house it is actually almost 58% of an increase on Tremonton taxes. We have also asked for our roads to be fixed going up to our properties and again this year we have been told it is not going to happen. We have been told for 13 years that it will be next year. I honestly feel the decision of this increase has already been made, but I have voiced my opinion. You were all elected to represent the people and I hope you listen to us and not just to friends, families and pet projects. Thank you for your time.
Jeff Johnson said this is unusual for me because I never get involved. I have been in Tremonton for 60 years and a homeowner for 41 years. I have paid taxes on time and not had any late fees, but something happened that brought me here. My proposed increase is $1,651. I retired two years ago and am on a fixed income. I know that $1,651 is not all the City. I went through the appeal process and had realtors involved who gave me three quotes on lots that are higher than that price, but the County said we are not going to change it, but did you know Tremonton is raising taxes 50%, take a look at Tremonton not us. That is disturbing to see that $1,651. I am not sure anyone on a retirement income could last that way. My house has been paid off for about nine years. I have no bills so I am on a tight budget. You have brought in a guy who does not want to get involved, but I want to get involved now because this is alarming to me. I support the police and fire departments, I love them. They have taken care of me my whole life. They are an awesome group, but how did we get so far behind these past several years for the police department? Why were we not increasing at least one officer a year. The guys in the fire department have given everything as volunteers. What happened that the City got so far behind on the planning that we could not foresee this? How do we know that next year I am not getting another $1,600 increase? I have been in my house for 30 years and I have a 1/3 of an acre. In 10 years, I may not be able to afford to live in Tremonton and have to sell my house and move into a trailer house. I am sure that is exaggerated, but I am concerned. My mom is 88 and her increase was a little bit more than I wish she had to pay. Do we expect increases? Most definitely and I budget for them, but I budgeted about $1,000 less than I should have this year. How are we going to control this so we do not run into this next year. I already talk to the County and they are not going to change it. Anything you can do to really look hard at this year’s plan would be appreciated. It has nothing to do with the police and fire departments. What do we do for the future? Since this is new to me, where are the other members? I was expecting to see everyone here. Mayor Holmgren said they have joined us online. Mr. Johnson said that seemed weird with the empty chairs, but that helps. This is such an important thing. I do not know how we could miss it.
Councilmember Archibald said good comments, I appreciate them. My comment to you is our neighboring community south of here has increased their taxes every year, incrementally. Tremonton has asked departments to tighten their belts. We have done that and we are known to not raise taxes. Would you prefer we do this in little increments? Mr. Johnson said I would like to see it come in smaller increments. Mayor Holmgren said we made a mistake by not going through this process incrementally over time. You bring up a good point. It is difficult to face everyone and say this is what we are asking of everybody. There are situations where we do not have much of a choice. We recognize we should have been doing this as we went along. We have only done a one time Truth in Taxation for the fire department. This is that critical. We take care of this issue that is facing us right now and we have to deal with it. Mr. Johnson said your property and house are not an investment for you when you retire. You have to live somewhere and I am not selling. This is for my kids down the road. I live in Tremonton, where I have been my whole life and I am not moving as long as we can control this.
Landon Hemsley said I can afford this. I have a pretty good income and $20 a month is not all that crazy for me, but the people I feel for are people like the gentleman who just spoke. Whose dollars are being devalued, whose bills are going up and they are looking at a brick wall and do not know how they are going to deal with this, not just this year, but in coming years. I have to speak more in philosophical terms in an attempt to get to a higher truth. Some of these ideas would not be super popular although they have been alluded to at this point. I am speaking to the guy who spoke on legalized plunder. Let us play out a hypothetical. Let us say that this taxation increase goes into effect and me being the homeowner, on a fixed income, decides to not pay it because I cannot afford it. What is going to happen to me? What is the consequence of that? Someone will put a lien on my house and take it away. What if I do not want to leave my house I have paid and worked for? These fine gentlemen are going to come after a court order and pick me up out of my house and put me somewhere else. They will physically remove me from my residence and it would be sold to satisfy my tax bill. My question is to whom does my property really belong? If I ultimately do not have full control of my property, who does? Is it mine, the City’s, the County’s, the State’s, whose is it? Almost 250 years ago there was a group of people in Boston Massachusetts who boarded a ship and threw a whole bunch of tea into a harbor over a 2% tax increase. Not a 50% tax increase, a 2% increase. A lot of our ancestors crossed the plains because under force of physical violence they were evicted from their homes without any choice to them. I am not passing any judgement on whether this is unnecessary or not, honestly, I have no idea. I have been in Tremonton for just under three years. My question is in your heart of hearts when you look down deep into your soul, can you say that what you are looking at—increasing everybody’s taxes is absolutely necessary and is acceptable plunder because ultimately that is what it is. We do not have a choice in the matter. You guys get to make the choice and we get to pay the bill. In your heart of hearts is that acceptable to you? If it is not, reconsider. There have been increases. My electric and insurance bills have gone up. My grocery bills have tripled in the last year, $400 to $1,300 a month. I have five children. Other parents are in the same position. There are two things I would like to ask you to do. Number one, really ask yourselves if I am asking people to increase their property taxes by 50%, which I understand is just the Tremonton portion, but let us be honest, property taxes have gone up a lot. It is not just you guys who are raising property taxes. Our home evaluations are going up like crazy. If you can justify this increase knowing you are forcibly taking that from your resident and if you justify down in the deep recesses of your heart knowing that you tried to cut any of the fat and waste and stuff you can get rid of, then okay. That is all I can ask for, but that requires deep introspection from all of you. Remember our heritage because we put up with a lot these days and the one place where I would hope we do not have to put up with a lot of garbage is from this group right here. Thank you for your time.
Jay Sandall said I agree that Tremonton is in an expansion period. I saw this coming years ago. This valley used to be the best kept secret in Utah. The secret is out. We have a lot of people moving in and needing a full-time fire department was inevitable. I know we have to finance that. It is just like buying fire insurance on your home. You hope you never have to use it, but you are cussing about the premiums all the time. I know we have to increase our fire and police departments. I go to bed at night knowing these things and that I am protected. On July 5, I went into full cardiac arrest at Jeanie Stevens Park. We did not call an ambulance because my grandson got me to the hospital quicker. I was told they would have to transport me to Ogden. I waited there for four hours for an ambulance. I had to wait for one to come back in to transport me. I would like to see the City and County, and every taxing entity do a zero-based budget to go back and look at where you are spending the money and make sure all departments are justified on what they have and what they are doing. I appreciate everything that everybody is doing and I do appreciate the fire and police departments and you guys, too.
Jeff Hoedt said I will cut my comments to stay in your limit, but will give a full statement to Recorder Nessen to share with you. After the following comments and data regarding Tremonton City’s current tax increase proposal, after hearing from the police department that we have officers sometimes patrolling alone without backup available and being a former state law officer and chief myself, I support the addition of more officers and staff to assure backup is always available. However, regarding whether a huge tax increase should be imposed on our citizens to pay for this, I am extremely disappointed that we find ourselves in this situation. That these gaps were not already addressed by the City with a very large increase that is received in property tax and sales tax revenues in recent years. I am further disappointed that the City’s budgeting process has some flaws. In the immediate past fiscal year, the City’s original budget had a nearly 38% error in its estimated incoming sales tax. This created a large slush fund for the City later in the fiscal year, which could be used to purchase equipment and other items that are not part of the original budgeting process. Did the City use those funds to purchase equipment and supplies for the proposed police and planning positions or will it? I do not have an answer. I am next disappointed that the City has not been transparent with citizens regarding where our tax rate is in comparison to other cities and towns in Box Elder County. The County assessor and auditor shared with me that while Tremonton has had fewer tax increases and a lower average percentage increase than some of our sister communities, we already have the second highest city property tax rate in Box Elder County. With this proposed tax increase we will have the highest tax rate in the County, nearly double the tax rate of Brigham City and more than triple the tax rate of Willard and much higher than Perry, who also have police departments. In the last handful of years my property tax bill from Tremonton will have gone up 117% with this new tax proposal. My wife’s and my retirement income has only gone up 17%. It is less important to me that my drastically rising home value and the flattened corporation values have impacted this, what matters is that we have lost a lot of our discretionary funds. Lastly, I will say I believe in a democracy where our elected officials should represent the majority’s wishes and not their own. If the majority of citizens support this increase and those to come then I would not object to such increases. However, if the majority does not support these increases, then I would be opposed to them. We are just hitting the tip of the iceberg at this point. In addition to this proposed tax increase, with our leadership creating an environment for explosive population growth in Tremonton more big tax increases are coming. In the past few years there has been 800 to 1,000 new housing units built and there are applications before the City now for over 1,900 more housing units to be built. We will need more police to defend off the increasing violent and culture changing crimes and issues. We will need more fire and EMT personnel to deal with the growing number of calls. We will need more in schools and will soon need a new or drastically bigger wastewater treatment facility as ours is already near and over capacity. In 2023 we are averaging a load to this facility that exceeds its capacity. Director Fulgham said not the load just the flow. Mr. Hoedt said regarding this new tax proposal I would ask our City leaders to properly survey citizens and their wishes. If they do not support this and other tax increases you need to reprioritize the use of the current budget. Thank you.
Manager Warnke said to be clear the City does receive sales tax and it has been increasing, but if you look at the statutory enabling language in the State Code on sales tax and the purpose of that, it is for bonded indebtedness or for capital equipment or facilities. That is primarily what the City has used our sales tax for. On average, 80% of our sales tax has been moved to capital project funds for the purpose the State has allowed us to receive. The other issue to clarify is, the certified tax rate will adjust up and down. They calculate the certified tax rate to deliver the same amount of revenues that the City received last year so as property values increase or decrease that certified tax rate will increase or decrease to deliver that same amount of revenue. The City does not have control over the certified tax rate. It is a matter of what happens to our taxable values and how those adjust and what the accessor accesses. The only time we have control over the certified tax rate is when we go through this Truth in Taxation public hearing process and say we need additional revenue. In this case it is $1,000,000. Unless we go through this process it is really driven by what the assessed value does within our community.
Linda Cullimore said in what year did we go from a volunteer department to a funded fire department? Councilmember Archibald said in 2021.
Todd Thornley said I am not a homeowner in Tremonton, I live in Box Elder County, but I am a landlord in Tremonton. I have rental properties and own a business in Tremonton and as I have talked to other business owners about this increase, they said all the landlords have to be concerned about this. I can tell you right now that one of the biggest land owners in Tremonton is not concerned because he will just pass it off. I recently rented one of our homes to a young couple just getting started and expecting their first baby. I am trying to be extremely fair with them on rent. I have been told I could get quite a bit more rent than I am, but they are just barely scraping by. He is working locally and I am giving him all kinds of concessions and breaks so he has a home for his wife and baby. With that being said with a large property tax increase do I just pass it on to my renters? That is a different perspective and from a business perspective you just do that, but from a moral perspective you know that could create a challenge so they cannot pay rent. This has to affect all those people too, not just homeowners. I worry about those on fixed incomes. This creates a real challenge. I understand the need for police, but when do we say enough is enough. Thank you.
Roxanne Young said this tax increase is over $600 for me this year. It was over $300 last year and over $200 the year before. My taxes are over $2,000 this year. My home is about 30 years old. I have lived up there 26 years and I want to know how someone who has a house that established, that has not made any new developments on her home, how come my taxes are $600 and someone living in a five year old home is only $300? Mayor Holmgren said I am not sure we can answer that without more information. We can talk later. Manager Warnke said the City can help you understand it better, but the person who has the ability to determine values is the County assessor and the process they have created to allow property owners to dispute their value is the board of equalization. They could consider making adjustments. That is the best approach to have your question answered, but we could look at it and make sense of it. Mrs. Young said you want to increase this for public safety, is any of this going to road improvement? Mayor Holmgren said we were hoping we would be able to improve 1000 North this year. We are in the process and need to widen that to make it handle traffic. We are working with homeowners to purchase easements to widen the road and we are in that process. We will put it out for bid this winter and the goal is to have the road improved next year (2300 West to 2650 West). Councilmember Estep said it would widen the bridge and put curb and gutter on both sides of the road. Director Fulgham said to clarify we are not buying property. The width of the road is 66 feet and that is the right-of-way now. We are purchasing slope easements so we can go on people’s property and make proper transitions out of their driveways as we widen the road to the existing right-of-way. Mrs. Young said in talking to a neighbor they said they were told by City officials that we should have a neighborhood meeting and discuss this road and come up with the money ourselves. Mayor Holmgren said I have not heard any of that. Mrs. Young said it should be covered by our taxes. The Council agreed. Mrs. Young said also you asked about the City south of us increasing taxes every year. It would be easier for me to have $200 each year versus $600 every year. Mayor Holmgren said we kind of shot ourselves in the foot by not doing it incrementally.
Renee Kay said the City brought in $80,000 two years ago and $30,000 last year in new growth. All that money is coming in and we had a huge explosion of growth. How are we going to catch our breath from all this growth we have had and all this taxation coming on? If we see all this growth and need all the extra police officers, which I agree every city needs that, but why did we not foresee this. I have been here for 20 years and seen it double. The growth we have never really had the need of a huge police force, but now we have so much growth coming in and are saying okay we need all these officers. Why did we not prepare for that in the beginning? Now with the County increasing all the houses, which does not match what the market value is. Why are we being shot in the foot and being given a big blow of a price increase versus we should be given the small increases and not just the large 50%. Mayor Holmgren said the growth amounts were $80,000 two years ago and $30,000 this year. That is not enough to handle what we needed to do. It sometimes just handles inflation. We have increased costs, too. Over the last three years we have had significant growth. In 2020 we had about 160 units. 2021 is the year it exploded. We had over 430 units added. Last year was much less and this year from January to now we have had nine single family units and 10 multi-family units added. It is hard to predict what will happen with growth. We pay property taxes too. What we are asking of the community, we are asking of ourselves. Mrs. Kay said there is slow growth and then explosive growth, which we have had and it has been approved by the City. Now we need all these officers because of additional people and are paying the price. We need to grow, but we need to grow right, which we have not been doing. Now you have people who cannot afford to keep their homes because prices of everything keep going up and now you are going to throw a 50% increase at every resident because the increase in the population and the need for extra officers. Mayor Holmgren said we have had a deficit in our department for several years, not just within the last three years. We have had a deficit for a long time and have just put up with it. Times have changed and we need to be more assertive in how we go about providing public safety. This has been an ongoing problem and we recognize we have issues we have to fix. Mrs. Kay said everyone appreciates safety, but I am against a 50% increase. If you wanted to do little amounts here and there and start from there okay, but do not throw it at everyone because the City failed to look into the future. It should not be the community’s fault and to pay that hefty price especially where the economy is so tight on so many incomes. People are losing their homes or living in homeless shelters because they cannot afford it and to increase this will cause even more people to have to work two to three jobs and not be there for their families.
Manager Warnke said I do not disagree that the City should be looking forward and trying to anticipate needs and budget accordingly. It is a balancing act. The General Fund is where property tax is received and is focused on the current fiscal year. It looks at what we need to be able to provide services for this fiscal year and that is how we budget. That is based on the current needs of that current year. To our detriment we should have been increasing property taxes on an ongoing basis and making sure we did not fall behind. The Council has really tried to look at what it takes to make it in this current fiscal year and what funding sources do we need. Going forward we will look at all options to make the best decision for the City. Councilmember Archibald said as a Council we have done everything we can to not raise taxes. We have gone to each department and said how can you cut. We have tried to figure out ways to not raise taxes, but we have arrived at a point where 10 years of getting by with one officer on duty and not having a planner has caught up with us. We know the right thing to do is to stabilize our community and we are asking for that support.
Paul Fowler said I am a resident and business owner. We keep making note of neighboring cities to the south and let me say we do not want to be like everyone else. We want to be Tremonton. No offense, we have friends in these communities, but we want to be Tremonton. We want to be different and sometimes that means creativity and handling things differently. We have a lot of talent here. Brigham City came and used my facility for a retreat and training for their employees. When I billed them, I added a $25 customer service fee. They asked what is this? I said what do you mean, you enact it on my utility bill every month. I have to pay a fee for you to bill me every month for my utility so I am billing you that and he did not like it and did not want to pay. Well welcome to how we feel as citizens. We do not like it and do not want to pay it. Most things I would like to say have already been said more elegantly than I could. I am a nuts-and-bolts guy and I deal with reality. I could watch the YouTube video that has been recommended and listen to all these explanations, but I can only speak from what I know and feel. My taxes on my home have doubled in a few years. I would love to open one of those envelops where my commercial values are going down and say I am going to pay less this year, but that has never happened. In the 20 years I have had a business in this town not one year have I opened that tax assessment and had it go down. I opened the notice for one of my shops and it was $2,900. This year’s is $4,000 if there is no increase. If I am renting to someone and getting $1,000 a month and now, I am paying nearly $400 a month in taxes, who is making the money on my property? Who is owning my property and benefiting from it? Not me. I know we have problems and I do not care about the explanation. I can only speak from the reality of it. You can explain things all you want and say this is how it works, but at the end of the day this is how it affects me. I pay over $10,000 a year on two small businesses and my home. I am looking at a 50% increase so I am going to be a little testy about anything that is going to take more of it. No one’s paycheck can increase beyond 100% so if you take 2% more, I still only have 100% less that percentage. My check does not suddenly pay me a bonus. When you were showing us how the taxes will only go up a hundred bucks the problem is that was not even the median home value in our County. Taxes are going to affect us a lot more than what is being presented and that is very frustrating.
Tremonton Sergeant Skyler Gailey said I am not here to talk about taxes, that is all you guys. I do want to talk to our citizens. I have not seen a turnout like this at City Council for a long time so you should be proud of yourselves for being here. Also, I have heard support for the police officers and that means a lot to us. There are a handful of officers who are in here and it is good to hear the community we work for cares for their police department. I live in the city to the south so I know what is happening with the taxes and I hate them just as much as you guys. Being a supervisor and getting these four other officers is going to be huge when we have a big incident and it is going to be nice to know they have a better chance of going home. We love this City and patrolling this City. We love the willingness of the City to work with us and all the citizens. We do not take lightly this increase that may or may not happen, but we want to thank you all for what you have done. I do not know all the City councilmembers very well, but the ones I do know have taken this to heart. It is not a light decision. They have been stewing over it for months. I love working for the community and thanks for everything you have done for us and the support you have shown us.
Paul Fowler said incremental increases every year scare me to death because every time government opens our wallet it has a hard time closing it and stopping. Think of a toll booth to pay for the road and then they never go away. We are only going to take 2% to 4% a year, but when does it stop. There has to be a cap, it has to stop. As a small business guy, when I do not have enough money, I cannot come out and tax you or add a $25 service fee to all my customers. I have to go in there and find another way. I have a finite amount and cannot magically increase it.
Capree Baker said our police are our heart and soul of this community. They are doing the job none of us are doing because we are not wearing a badge. I feel like this City has failed them and I hope you guys can get creative in looking for a budget in order for us to receive these officers. I know you have mentioned this is new within the last couple of years, but I have been coming here for years and talking about growth and we rubber stamp anything that lands on our desk. The majority of homes that are coming in are townhomes and apartments and our officers are going to those spaces two to one. Why are the residents carrying the burden. Where is our commercial. We are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for someone to find grants, who do we pay to go find commercial and bring it in? Post and Wests Liberty Foods should not carry on all the sales tax, but the residents are. The residents are suffering on our roads, in our public safety. I live in a community that has way more people than one access road and there is only one access in that subdivision, which is a big public safety issue. We are missing an entire strip of road. All of them are funneling to one. That is a huge hazard. I know you are aware of it because we have brought it up for 10 years now. I love this community and I hope Garland is carrying some of the burden as well because we do share the public law enforcement. I do challenge you to find a creative way. From your statements today it feels you have already passed it so please check and balance again and make sure you can do all you have done and reach out. Obviously, we have some very concerned citizens.
Jose Mendoza said I have been living here for two years and want to get a better understanding of the property tax increase and taxes in general. You mentioned in the slides that only a portion of the tax increase on your notice is related to property taxes, what does the other portion go toward? Assistant City Manager Christensen said all the entities on the left-hand side. Mr. Mendoza said with Tremonton and Garland police being combined is that being considered or how does that affect them in terms of an increase? Councilmember Estep said no, we have so many in Tremonton and they have so many in Garland. Assistant Police Chief Brian Crockett said the Sheriff’s Office has one officer for 560 people. Garland has one for 653 and Tremonton has one per 830 residents. If we removed Garland then we would have 891 people per officer. Garland is doing a great job in being staffed. The state average is 571 people per officer. Mr. Medoza said this tax notice answers my questions in how the other tax funds are being spent. Other citizens have expressed their concerns on things that need to be improved. I support the police department and additional positions that need to be added to keep our community safe. I have two little ones at home and would like to be able to raise them in a safe community. I do agree with adding the positions and layers of security for our community. Thank you for your time.
Alan James said I agree with what has been said. The question I have is about the police department sharing with Garland. Is Garland sharing with the expense? Assistant Police Chief Brian Crockett said we have four Garland officers who are employed by Garland City. The only difference between them and us is they get their paycheck from them. They are paid at the same rate and get their vehicles from Garland. Mr. James said since we are sharing should they not be sharing in the cost of all the officers? Assistant Police Chief Brian Crockett said they do they have a budget for it. Garland is staffed for their population, Tremonton is not. Mayor Holmgren said this is a good relationship between Garland and Tremonton. They are helping our staffing so our numbers fall more in line to where they should be. Assistant Police Chief Brian Crockett said if Garland did not help, we would have one officer on night every time. Mrs. Kay asked about the actual crime rate in Tremonton. I have been here for 20 years and it is a very safe environment for our kids, do we really need that? Assistant Police Chief Brian Crockett would address that next. Mr. James continued. I have a question on taxes and how they work. For West Liberty Foods and Post coming in, where do those taxes go? Into an RDA? Manager Warnke said they were in an RDA for a period of time. Tremonton has an RDA that can receive property tax if the other taxing entities allow them to. Tremonton City created two project areas. They allowed the RDA to receive that tax. During that time the property taxes were remitted back to the industries to offset their investment.
Assistant Police Chief Brian Crockett said I started in 1996 when there were seven officers. We now have 17 so we have grown the department as the City has grown. I have been in a lot of your homes and businesses on your best and worst days. It has been an honor to serve you and I want to keep serving you at the level of service you deserve. I was born and raised here. My parents moved here. I love Tremonton. It was the best kept secret that has gotten out, but we can keep it a really nice place. At our current staffing level all my officers are doing is responding to calls. They average a call an hour. A DUI takes a minimum of five hours to complete. A family fight, depending how serious, is three to four hours. My officers are being reactive and not doing proactive things. The things we are starting to see are a lot more violent. We had a double shooting about a year ago. An individual attempted to break into Ridleys this winter and our officer encountered him on his own with a knife. He had to challenge him with his hand gun to drop it. The guy had mental problems. That officer and another office spent the next seven hours at the hospital babysitting him until he could get a release to go to jail. Our City was without an officer for that long. This spring we had an estranged husband, who was arrested for domestic violence break into his ex-wife’s apartment with a gun and threaten her. Our officers challenged him and spent time getting him to drop the gun and take him into custody safely. There was a family fight last week. We were preparing for a search warrant so we had a lot of officers available. The individual in that family fight has mental health issues and this was the third time I have gone hands on with him in the last year. It took five of us to take him down and arrest him. We cannot have that when it is just one officer. Officers are at a premium right now. Officer Gailey could go work south for double his wage. The sheriff’s office just lost a deputy to Brigham City where he can make $9 more an hour. When we are trying to recruit, we cannot rely on Tremonton is a good place to work and have a career. We used to rely on that. We want to be a good department that is proactive. One of my officers quit a year ago because he had anxiety about working by himself. I was dispatched in the middle of the night by myself to an address in Tremonton and met a person who was suicidal. He was going to get his shot gun. I was by myself and my biggest tool was my brain and mouth. I would love to be able to tell my officers you do not have to work by yourself again and with this we should be able to do it. There is a plaque in the foyer here, the Glenn Goss Memorial. Back in the early 70s a truck driver in Nevada stopped to help a police officer who was fighting a guy and he was killed. Do not make me put one of my officer’s names on a building. I need their support and I need them to be well staffed and trained and give you the service you deserve. Thank you.
Councilmember Archibald said every week the Council gets a report from the police department and it tells us what has gone on in the City. I have a huge amount of gratitude for what I see. I will give up that trip to McDonalds so I can know our neighbors and police are safe. I always respond to Assistant Chief Crockett to let him know how I feel about the report. It is a wonderful place to live and they help us so much.
Chris Mortensen said I am a detective with Tremonton. We do not want to be the same as other communities and I can tell you we are not. I get head hunted by lots of other departments. I could go to Logan and do what I do for $12 more an hour, but there is a reason I stay here. You are awesome people to work with and we do get the support of our administration and the City as much as they can. We just need more help. As a detective I have a higher case load than the entire County in the detective’s division by myself. The double shooting was my case and it took almost three weeks of my life and six months later I had to go to court so there was another two weeks. Officers in this room have been here and have stayed for a long time. The reason we are still here is because of you guys. I love the citizens I get to work with every day. You do support us in the era of everyone hating cops. You do not hate us. We have a great chief and administration. You guys are awesome and that is why I do what I do. We are busy and need help. I stress everyday about my work load. The new positions are not helping me, but will back my guys so I do not have to leave and back them up. I can stay in my office and work. We appreciate you.
Mike Bartold said I am the other detective who handles property crimes. I rent my house. When I moved here three years ago, I paid $700 in rent and now it is almost $1,300. Last year they increased it $400 due to property taxes. It is going to go up a lot more and I am okay. I know it is going to go up and that sucks because it affects me, but because of it I know I will go home to my wife at night. I am going to be okay, so please consider that. This is a big deal to me.
Interim Fire Chief Chris Scothern said a property tax increase is not something any of us want to go through. The fire department works hand in hand with the police department and we see the struggles they are going through with manpower and it affects us in many ways. I have lived in Tremonton pretty much my whole life. Public safety is typically not what it appears on the outside. You get to be shielded from a lot of that. There is a lot of ugliness in the world today and Tremonton is not exempt from any of that when it comes to crime and drugs. We have had our eyes opened over the years on how much worse that is getting. There has been a lot of debate and discussion about a reactive police force and in order to keep our City safe we need to have a proactive police force. They physically cannot do that now. If we want to continue on the road we are today, knowing we can go home safe at night, we need to make sure we are helping them position themselves accordingly, whether that is through a tax increase or any other type of funding, we have to make it happen. I have been on a lot of these incidents and seen the ugly end of those. There are times when there are multiple calls at the same time. We are seeing an increase in multiple calls happening simultaneously. There is not enough police staff for them to help us, they are strung out and doing the best they can. We are at a turning point and if we do not do something about it then you might not get that service when you call 911 and that scares me. The fire department has always supported our officers and we work hand in hand. We have to do something. I hate a tax increase like everyone, but we are at a turning point that if we want to keep the City safe we have to do something. I do not know what the solution is as far as coming up with the money, but we need to give them the support they need.
Chairman Holmgren closed the Public Hearing at 9:04 p.m.
Mayor Holmgren said we appreciate your comments, ideas and concerns. This is a difficult decision we are faced with—all of us in this community. We are trying to do the best we can. We need to make sure we have public safety. We will consider your comments and concern. A fellow said look deep down in your heart and determine if this is what you think is the right thing to do and I empathically say yes. In my heart I know this is the right thing to do. How we come up with the resources to do it is something we are going to take a good, hard look at starting tomorrow. We need to sure up our public safety and making sure they are not out on their own to address a critical situation and putting their safety at risk and also the public’s safety. Councilmember Estep said we know we are behind. If it all comes at once we know it is going to hurt everyone. If we do it just a little, do we have the time to bring in a couple this year and next, I do not know. We will look, we have, but will go back and look and dig some more.
7. Adjournment
Motion by Councilmember Estep to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by Councilmember Archibald. Vote: Councilmember Archibald – aye, Councilmember Estep – aye, Councilmember Rohde – aye, Councilmember Seamons – aye, Councilmember Vance – aye. Motion approved.
The meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m.
The undersigned duly acting and appointed Recorder for Tremonton City Corporation hereby certifies that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes for the City Council Meeting held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.
Dated this 29th day of August, 2023.
Linsey Nessen, City Recorder