IVINS, Utah — After 15 years without a property tax rate increase, Ivins city officials say they need to adjust rates to keep up with inflation and maintain essential services.
While the cost of your morning coffee has steadily increased over the past 15 years due to inflation, property tax rates in Ivins have remained unchanged since 2010.
"If in 2010, your boss came to you and said, 'OK, we've got this great idea. We're going to fix your salary at this amount, and we're going to leave it that way from year to year,'" Ivins Mayor Chris Hart said.
Hart explained that the state legislature established a "truth in taxation" process that cities must follow to adjust tax rates.
"The last time Ivins City did this was in 2010. And by the way, every city eventually faces this dilemma," Hart said.
The city is not only planning a truth in taxation hearing in August but is also holding a town hall Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Rocky Vista University, where more than 250 residents were expected to participate.
"I found it's becoming increasingly difficult to pay public safety salaries and infrastructure costs when the revenue stream hasn't changed in 15 years," Hart said. "Even revenue from the new Black Desert Resort can't cover the current budget deficit as the development is still partially under construction."
"It's hard to call it a tax increase. It's really more of a tax adjustment to adjust for inflation," Hart said. "Everything that the city does, all of the services that we provide, the labor and materials, of course, kept up and probably exceeded the inflation rate."
Hart noted that growth is the only mechanism to increase property tax revenue without going through the truth-in-taxation process, as each new parcel is assessed and assigned a tax value.
"We do have the tax revenue that comes to the city does increase year to year, strictly as a function of growth. But with growth comes additional demands on services," Hart said.
Billy Hesterman, president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, offered perspective on whether cities should increase property tax rates.
"We would say that a city should look at it every seven years or so. Should we go down this road? And not necessarily saying they should approve it, but they should at least, you know, take a look and say, are we keeping up with inflation?" Hesterman said.
However, Hesterman doesn't support replacing truth in taxation with automatic adjustments for inflation.
"We like that the governments need to go to their people and have those hard discussions, because that's really what it is. It's a hard talk, but it's what we do with our families, when you're making your family budget," Hesterman said.
Hart, who has announced his retirement at the end of his term in January, believes public officials need to stop fearing the truth in taxation process.
"If what matters most is getting elected, then I guess that's one thing. If what matters most is doing what is ultimately best and right for your city, then you do it. You do it when it's time to do it. And in our case, it's just time to do it," Hart said.
