Candidates highlight job attraction as key to reducing commutes and lowering taxes

Candidates at the Tooele City forum emphasized bringing employers and “shovel-ready” industrial sites to the valley as the primary means to create local jobs and reduce long commutes.

Marissa Manzion described the city's recent development gains in economic terms and said, “We have brought over $850,000,000 in business development...we have brought over a thousand new jobs.” She said redevelopment agency work focused on readying city-owned land and relationship-building with prospective companies.

Brad Pratt said his three top goals are fixing transportation, addressing water and “attract jobs here to Tooele,” adding that the city historically lost many workers to Salt Lake. Several candidates, including Pratt and Spencer Peck, said bringing higher-paying, career-track jobs would allow more residents to work locally and reduce pressure on SR‑36.

Why it matters: Economic development decisions shape tax revenue and service capacity. Candidates framed business attraction as a strategy to keep property-tax rates stable by expanding the commercial tax base rather than raising residential property taxes.

Details and context: Candidates said the redevelopment agency had pursued land-readiness investments — utility and site improvements — so businesses can break ground quickly. Marissa Manzion described active recruitment of companies and site visits that resulted in employer commitments such as Central States, which she said hired dozens of workers. Candidates also pointed to forthcoming hires at new retail sites (a grocery chain doing local hiring) as evidence of recent success in recruitment.

Ending: Candidates linked economic-development strategy to infrastructure fixes (roads and water) and said job attraction would be a focal point for the next council and mayoral term; they did not spell out specific incentive packages or tax-break proposals in the forum.