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Payson council debates cutting 1% sales tax; no final vote after heated exchange
Summary
Councilmembers debated a proposal to reduce the town's temporary 1% sales tax by 0.5 percentage points; members discussed project commitments, revenue projections and operating impacts, but the council did not adopt a reduction at the meeting.
Councilmembers on June 25 debated a proposal to reduce Payson's temporary 1% sales tax by 0.5 percentage points but took no final action before recessing to other business.
The discussion matters because the 1% tax was enacted after a bond vote and is being used in part for capital projects and maintenance; cutting it would alter available funding for those projects or require equivalent cuts elsewhere in the operating budget.
Councilmember Charlie Bell introduced the proposal, saying he wanted a vote on reducing the tax. "I'm recommending that we do a 0.5% reduction on the TPT and that next year that we do another 0.5," Bell said. Finance staff provided revenue context: "Based on our projections for next year's TPT revenue, we projected like 22,460,000 and 1 percent of that would be 5.7, 5,800,000," Dana Ohansian, the finance director, told council.
Councilmembers who opposed an immediate reduction said the town should wait for the incoming town manager and produce a specific plan showing where roughly $2.7 million in ongoing revenue savings would be cut. Councilmember Tubbs urged caution, saying staff and a new manager should have input and the council should identify concrete cuts before approving a tax rollback. Councilmember Moser and others noted parts of the 1% were intended for ongoing maintenance of future capital projects.
A motion was made to table the reduction until the town produces a financial plan and the new town manager can weigh in; the substitute motion to table was put to a voice vote and failed. Councilmembers continued discussion but did not make a final vote to reduce the tax before moving on to other agenda items and an executive session. No ordinance or formal change to the tax rate was enacted at this meeting.
Councilmembers outlined rough project numbers discussed during the meeting: event center design ($1,500,000), pool construction documents ($1,480,000) and the Green Valley Parkway extension (approximately $2,500,000), a combined approximate total of $5,500,000. Several councilmembers said that if the tax were reduced, the town would need to identify offsetting operating or capital-fund reductions.
