ROY, Utah — Roy City residents are not happy, and shared their displeasure at a recent council meeting against a proposed property tax increase of more than 55%, which they say is concerning.
Among those who shared their trepidation was Pastor Jim Panagoplos.
“This community, it’s neat being a pastor here… we planted a small church, called The Gathering Place, and that’s who we are now," said the pastor.
But on Tuesday, the pastor stepped away from the pulpit and preached in front of the Roy City Council.
"When I first saw this, it really troubled me that that much of an increase was going to be proposed to the city," he said while speaking to the council.
The city’s tentative budget includes a proposed a 55.45% property tax increase to generate what leaders claim will be more than $2.8 million in tax revenue.
“I thought it was quite excessive. Shocking, actually," said Roy resident Larry Parks. "As far as what they need to do, it’s figure out how to avoid such a high tax. It’s ridiculous.”
The city's agenda showed the purpose of the increase was to balance the budget due to a revenue shortfall from the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for employees in the current fiscal year. The tax increase would give a 2.8 percent COLA to employees in the 2027 fiscal year and make wage correction adjustments to full-time employees.
In short, city manager Matt Andrews claimed the increase is to get the workforce up to market with other cities in Weber and Davis counties.
“The way the document reports, this is just basically paying for salary increases," explained former Roy Mayor Robert Dandoy.
As the former mayor, Dandoy knows the ins and outs of city government.
“The first priority has to be to the people who elected you to represent them," he said. "Sometimes, that gets lost in translation because now some people say, well, what’s most important is city employees or this or that, but it’s not.”
While the tax increase proposal has not been finalized, it still has residents worried for themselves and their neighbors.
“Now, throwing this big curveball onto the residents has heightened the anxiety level," said Panagoplos. "Like I said, a lot of us are on fixed income, social security. That little bit of an increase means a lot.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first part of the process, and even though the city council voted to adopt a tentative budget, it's not yet set in place. In the meantime, Andrews is asking residents to reach out and share their opinions.
