Utah County provides many critical services for the citizens of Utah County. The cost of providing these core services has increased almost $37 million (39%) since 2020 due primarily to high inflation, criminal prosecution, assistance to abused children, increased funding needs for law enforcement, public and mental health services, and reduced federal funding for critical social services such as victims’ advocates. The increased costs have outpaced the moderate $425,000 (0.83%) natural annual growth in property tax revenue over the same period. Even with sales tax revenues increasing $15.2 million (41.8%) over this period, revenue growth is not keeping up with expense growth. Utah County is currently projecting deficits in 2025 and 2026 of $18.7 and $25.1 million, respectively. This level of deficits will quickly deplete our rainy-day reserves unless we increase the property tax level for the general fund.
Public safety and criminal justice operations consume more than 77% of the annual general fund budget in 2024. Around the clock public safety services include protecting citizens; fighting drug trafficking, lewd attacks on children, and SWAT operations; incarceration and rehabilitating law breakers; providing medical services to inmates; fighting wildland fires; and emergency management services during emergencies. The cost of criminal justice services, including prosecuting criminals, justice courts, and indigent defense increased 43% ($7.3 million) from 2020. The County was recently featured on A&E’s Sixty Days In, and the show noted that as population has increased, we’ve seen more and more violent offenders and drug trafficking. We desperately need additional resources to help continue to keep our community the safest place to live, work, and raise a family. We need to increase tax revenues to continue to focus resources on these essential services. We are one of the lowest taxed counties in the state (26th of 29 counties), compared to Salt Lake County (19th) and Davis (24th). With the proposed increase we would increase only one place to the 25th lowest in the state.
Capital improvements and deferred maintenance have been a major area of neglect historically in our county. Many of the county’s facilities are more than 30 years old and need major renovations. Additionally, population growth requires construction and renovation of buildings and facilities throughout the county. The costs of materials and labor for these critical projects have skyrocketed recently and the capital costs budgeted through 2026 will exceed $100 million.
Local governments provide services for the public good and must balance their budgeted revenues and expenses each year. As costs for providing required services increase, revenues must also increase to pay for the services. If revenues are not sufficient to cover the expenses, the county must use accumulated rainy-day reserves to balance the budget. The current state law governing taxation does not allow for automatic increases in tax revenue regardless of rising costs and inflation. When local governments must raise their property tax revenues and their base tax rates, this is accomplished through a process known as Truth-in-Taxation.