ROY, Utah — In August, Roy city council voted 4-1 to increase city property tax. During public comment periods and hearings, multiple people expressed concerns with how the 34 percent property tax increase could impact families and seniors on a fixed income.
Now, voters get to decide whether the city can increase property taxes to make up for a $1.7 million dollar budget deficit, after a referendum effort gathered enough signatures to put this question on the ballot.
A group of people worked on a referendum to stop this tax increase.
"If they would have listened to us, then we wouldn’t have had to go through all this effort to get it on the ballot,” said Dale Bennion who was part of the referendum effort. He said he went door-to-door and collected 100 signatures.
WATCH | Roy referendum on property tax increase gets enough signatures to be on ballot
"We were given a number — 1,786,” explained Nancy Inman, who sponsored the referendum. She said that was 10 percent of the registered voters in Roy, and they had to get a certain percentage in three out of four areas as well.
They collected signatures Wednesday evening at the Roy farmer's market, and by going door-to-door. Inman said their most successful spot was outside the liquor store where they think they collected about half of the nearly 2,100 signatures submitted to the Weber County Clerk’s office.
"People just came to us, it wasn’t that we were asking them, they wanted to sign,” said Vanessa Wilson, who was part of the effort. “We want our voice heard,” she added.
We found out this week that after 40 days of collecting signatures and submitting them on Oct. 8 the referendum had enough signatures to be on the ballot. Inman said they were about 102 verified signatures above the number they needed.
"Relieved and jazzed and just excited that we were able to accomplish,” Inman added. She said she started preparing for this last year after the proposed 28 percent tax increase was struck down by the state, and was worried the city might try a large property tax increase this year as well.
"This isn’t something that I just put together on the 12th of August, I’ve been working on this since last summer,” she added.
The Weber County Clerk's Office said ballots are already showing up in people’s mailboxes, and these are printed with all the races, including the referendum in Roy.
The city originally proposed a 55.45 percent tax increase. But, that number came down with Roy City fire being annexed into the Weber Fire District. But, residents said they will still have to pay the same increased amount, but now it’s split between the city and the fire district.
Roy City Council member Alexis Jackson said she is “nervous” about what could happen if the increase does not pass.
"Everything that people don’t see, everything that doesn’t seem to impact people has been cut. The next things to be cut, they will notice and it will impact their lives,” she said. “And so when I look at my budget and I say 11 dollars a month, can I make that work with my budget, or am I okay selling off parks, am I okay closing down programs for people.”
The city said the increase is needed for employee wages and personnel cost-of-living adjustments.
"I’d like to see the people we elected act like we elected them, and quit acting like they work for the people that they hired,” added Bennion.
Council member Jackson said the overall goal is for better service and reduce employee turnover. She said she hopes that this increase can bring city wages to a competitive level, and that they won’t need to do a large increase next year.
"We have to balance our budgets and work within our means, so should our city,” said Inman.