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Provo holds public hearing on proposed 10-year renewal of recreation, arts and parks sales tax
Summary
Provo City held a public hearing on a proposed 0.1% Recreation, Arts and Parks (RAP) sales tax renewal that will appear on the Nov. 4, 2025 ballot; Parks director said the tax has funded parks, trails and arts programming and yields roughly $15 million over the past decade with projected revenue of about $2 million per year.
Provo City held a public hearing to gather community comment on a proposed 10-year renewal of the city's Recreation, Arts and Parks (RAP) tax, a voter-approved one-tenth of 1% local sales tax set to appear on the Nov. 4, 2025 ballot.
Doug Robbins, director of Provo Parks and Recreation, told the Provo Municipal Council the RAP tax was first authorized in February 2015 and is collected on purchases made in Provo by residents and visitors. “The RAP is a voter approved one tenth of 1% sales tax opportunity for our residents. It was first authorized in Provo in 02/2015,” Robbins said. He added the program “has supported many improvements not only for programs and facilities, but also trails and other opportunities here across the city.”
Robbins said the RAP generated about $15,000,000 in revenues over the past 10 years and that current projections are roughly $2,000,000 per year going forward. Those figures were presented as departmental estimates during the hearing. An attendee in public comment later recalled different totals, saying she remembered “$23,000,000 that we have received…and we’ve gotten over $50,000,000 in benefit,” an assertion the speaker attributed to her review of the figures.
The council chair noted state law requires local RAP taxes to be renewed by voters every 10 years. Robbins said the Parks and Recreation advisory board and city staff have shared information at neighborhood meetings and will include additional details in a voter information pamphlet mailed to Provo residents before the election. John Payne, a long-time Provo resident, and Julie Redditt, who said she has lived in Provo 40 years, both spoke in favor of the renewal during the public hearing. Payne said, “it’s a very small incremental change,” and Redditt said she supports the tax because of the parks and trails it funds.
No formal council action on the renewal was taken at this meeting; the item was presented as a public hearing to collect comments before the question appears on the upcoming ballot. The council will not finalize the measure itself at the hearing; voters will decide whether to renew the tax on Nov. 4, 2025.
