DAVIS COUNTY—A growing population means more services. To meet those demands Davis County is proposing a 30% increase in property taxes. On a $600,000 home that works out to be approximately $8.37 a month. 

“The last time the county had an increase in taxes was in 2016 for the 2017 calendar year,” said Davis County Controller Scott Parke. “The tax increase that we’re talking about now won’t go into effect until this time next year.”

Since 2017 inflation has gone up 32%, he said. “What we could buy then for $1 now costs us $1.32.”

 Property taxes are designed so that if new people move in and build new homes, then we collect a little bit of revenue for that but there’s nothing in there that collects for inflation, Parke said. “So that’s why you see all these governments every five or 10 years go through Truth in Taxation. There’s really no other choice.”

The question is why now? “The real answer is we could have probably done it a few years ago. We had some money from the federal government – COVID related stimulus money,” he said. “It seemed odd to raise taxes on the citizens for ongoing services when we still had a bunch of money in the savings account.”

So the decision was made to spend down some of that one time COVID related money, said Parke. “Then once that money’s gone we’ll come back and ask for the tax increases that time.”

Also inflation was really high a few years ago, he said. “It was a very bad time – not that there’s ever a good time to raise taxes – but it was particularly bad.”

Just as an example, since 2020 the cost of providing services for the attorney’s office has increased by $3 million, he said. “So what we used to buy for $5.8 million now costs us almost $9 million for that same service and it’s primarily salaries and wages benefits. We had wage  wars with attorneys. We had a wage war with our public safety officers. Inmate medical care continues to go up in terms of cost.”

This tax increase is designed to help continue to provide the existing services the county’s already providing, said Parke. “The county has taken some steps to try to save money. Back in 2023 the sheriff was asking for a big increase in his deputies to keep up with the market. There just wasn’t any money so he eliminated a bunch of positions. Almost 19 positions and took that money to fund his increase.”

Some residents are asking about the money spent on animal care. “There are a few areas that are different from the general fund,” said Commission Chair Lorene Kamalu. “Animal care is one of those. There was that small increase last year for the actual services. It’s not for the building. The numbers had grown so much. They were just struggling over there because of the population growth of humans and animals.”

Kamalu said one of the common questions she gets is “why are they asking for another increase?”

“I was one of these people back in 2014,” she said. “I came in here (commission meeting) and I wasn’t upset, I just wanted to understand. I had my property tax evaluation with different things on there and a total that I needed to pay.”  

  One of the basic things people don’t understand is that the money people pay is not all going to running the county government, said Kamalu. “When I looked closely for the first time I realized a little bit all those years ago. I can still remember the percentages, like 14% of what I paid went to my city to run city level services. Then it was slightly less that went to the county to run the entire county government.”

Then all of the rest went to other organizations, she said. “A big chunk goes to the school district every year. Then mosquito abatement and sewer and whatever else our property taxes are paying for depending on where we live. You have to look more closely and you realize it’s not the county raising taxes every year. You have to pay attention to the different entities and where it’s going.”

The county has to do everything they can on their side to not grow government but provide the services that people expect, Kamalu said. “And do it as efficiently as possible. That’s a big deal.”

There’s a lot of stress in having to raise taxes, she said. “I love to educate people who are like I used to be. I didn’t know where property tax goes and that’s really basic.”

To understand, people will have the opportunity if they come in person to the open houses, said Kamalu. “All of these will have various officials who are running departments at the county. Residents can ask them questions. We are looking forward to having that opportunity with people and we hope that they come wanting to learn and understand.”

A 30% increase makes it sound horrible, Parke said. “You have to use the numbers that put some context to that. For an average valued home, which sadly in Davis County is like $600,000 now, that property value is about $100 a year, so about $8.37 a month. I’m not going to diminish that every little bit adds up for all of us who live in the county. I understand it’s hard on all of us.”

Open houses are scheduled for:

• Nov. 6 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Layton Library, 155 N. Wasatch Drive

• Nov. 12 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Centerville Library, 45 S. 400 West

• Nov. 18 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Syracuse Library, 1875 S. 2000 West

• Dec. 2, Truth in Taxation, 6 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 61 S. Main Street, Farmington

For more information about the tax increase go to the county website   https://www.daviscountyutah.gov/truth-in-taxation#events.