FARMINGTON—There was more discussion at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting on a proposed 30% property tax increase with some differing opinions between the commissioners. 

During the public comment period, one resident came before the commission and simply said, “I encourage you to cut spending so let’s not have a tax increase and spend within our means.”

Davis County Sheriff Kelly Sparks spoke to the commission about the number of positions the department has already cut and the services that would suffer without the tax increase.

“We can all agree on this, everybody hates tax increases,” said Sparks. “I hate paying 30% more for groceries every day. I hate what it costs to put gas in my car and what it costs to keep the lights on.”

Inflation has been a hard reality, he said. “Things simply cost more than maybe eight years ago and that includes the cost of things that we must do in order to keep the Sheriff’s Office in the county running.”

The people of Davis County hired all of the elected officials to do the right thing, Sparks said. “Not necessarily the easy thing. Before taxes are ever increased or even contemplated I think two things need to happen. One is to cut expenses wherever and whenever possible and two is to look for other options to fund essential services.”

The Sheriff’s Office has been doing exactly that for several years, he said. “We’ve made significant cuts and streamlined our operations. We’ve cut positions. Even with a 30% inflation rate we’ve been able to keep our budget relatively flat, averaging less than a 5% year over year increase for the last five years.”

Sparks said the Sheriff’s Office has also searched out additional revenue sources including entering into contracts with the Department of Corrections, the U.S. Marshals and the Utah State Hospital. “The Sheriff’s Office has been able to generate about $18 million of revenue each year that goes into the general fund. That’s about a 50% increase since 2020.”

These contracts are not without their risks and not without their downsides, he said. “We’ve really maxed out what we can responsibly do in that area. Two years ago the Sheriff’s Office cut 21 full-time employee positions and only a couple of those have been reinstated since. We’ve really cut to the bone. We’ve had to forgo some opportunities to improve your Sheriff’s Office due to lack of funding.”

Personnel has been stretched way too thin for far too long, said Sparks. “To operate a jail you have to have a set number of people manning security posts within the jail. We simply can’t say to the inmates ‘supervise yourselves today because we don’t have enough deputies.’ But the reality is we don’t have enough deputies.”

Sparks said they’ve been surviving on overtime, which is fiscally questionable and possibly physically and mentally damaging to employees and that simply cannot continue.

Davis County has seen an increase in serious crime, he said. “Right now our investigators are working closely with the city police departments investigating a significant increase in vehicle thefts and burglaries that have happened across our county since June. In the last few weeks we have served 10 search warrants resulting in the recovery of 32 stolen vehicles and the recovery of 11 out of about 30 plus firearms that have been stolen from Davis County residents just within the last couple of months.”

The proposed property tax increase will not make the Sheriff’s Office whole, said Sparks. “It will not even get us back to the level that we were functioning at in 2020 but at least it will stop the bleeding and prevent further erosion of public safety in Davis County.”

County Controller Scott Parke presented the 2026 tentative budget for the commission’s approval. “We must make definitive choices on how to balance the budget to secure the county’s financial future,” he said. “If we do a tax increase less than the whole 29.97% it must be added to corresponding budget cuts. We’ll find ourselves in the same situation again in a few short years and with even less in our reserves to be able to handle it. We’re going to hold several open meetings over the next few weeks and answer the public’s questions.”

“I do not believe that we need to realistically be above 10% as far as a tax increase goes,” said Commissioner Bob Stevenson. “I do not disagree with Scott’s philosophy but we need to make sure we are moving out of A into B and I believe the dollars are in there. I think that we can realistically get away with 9.9% and we will be more than healthy for at least the next two years before we have to look at anything else.” 

“Right now in the tentative budget we have looked at no’s to every request that was not statutorily required,” said Commission Chair Lorene Kamalu. “Therefore, the budget that the Controller has prepared for the 29.9% is to keep the existing services of Davis County going. If we want the services then we have to get back the purchasing power of the revenue that we have lost.”

Ultimately, the commission approved the 2026 tentative budget but the final vote will not take place until after the Truth in Taxation meeting on Dec. 2. For more information about the proposed tax increase and public meetings go to https://www.daviscountyutah.gov/truth-in-taxation#events.