Utah County commissioners hold truth-in-taxation hearing, keep county rate at certified level and defer final 2019 budget vote

The Utah County Commission on the continuance of its truth-in-taxation hearing voted to keep the county's authorized collection rate at the state-certified level and delayed a final vote on the 2019 budget until its next regular meeting.

Commissioners debated whether to use reserve balances or raise the county portion of property taxes to fund department requests. Chair opened the evening noting the session continued last week's public engagement; commissioners then outlined competing fiscal approaches before hearing extensive public comment.

Commissioner (Speaker 3), during opening remarks, framed the choice in numerical terms: holding the certified rate would yield roughly $1.7 million in additional revenue and, for the average Utah County home value cited by the commission, would cost residents about "74¢ a month" or "$8.89 annually." He said holding the rate would give residents a low immediate cost while preserving the option to revisit the rate if reserves fell further.

Commissioner (Speaker 2) pressed for using existing fund balances, noting the commission's general fund and related balances totaled about "$24,900,000" with specific earmarks including statutory reserves and earmarked vehicle recapitalization and election funds. Commissioners also discussed an assigned fund balance of approximately $7 million tied to this year's budget requests.

More than 40 members of the public testified in the hearing's public-comment portion. Jim Tracy, retired Utah County sheriff, spoke in favor of a tax increase, citing public-safety workload across a large unincorporated county and warning of risks if contingency funds were exhausted. "Those response times... account for increase in a workload and a decrease in the capability," he said.

Ryan McBride, who identified himself as working in the Utah County Attorney's Office, described heavy caseloads and urged additional resources: "I currently have a caseload of 183 open cases," he said, and added that prosecutors routinely lack sufficient time per case.

Opponents of immediate rate increases urged the county to use reserves and further scrutinize department requests. Jacob Zontz of PG Watchdogs said some residents simply cannot absorb even small monthly increases: "It's pennies. $5 here, $3 there, $10 there. It adds up," he told commissioners. Several residents said rising property values and school district bonds had already increased homeowners' bills.

After the comment period, Commissioner (Speaker 2) moved "to not increase the authorized collection rate for Utah County, but to remain at the certified rate issued by the state." Commissioner (Speaker 3) seconded; the motion passed on a unanimous voice vote (3'0'00).

The board then discussed the preliminary 2019 budget totals presented by the chair. A preliminary total cited in the meeting was $90,184,452; commissioners and staff identified a package of additional requests including $8,717,000 in departmental asks and a $1.3 million request for public defenders. Commissioners debated restricting certain line-item projects (for example, capital "2600" projects that require bids) into restricted accounts and whether to withhold specific attorney and public-defender amounts until the incoming county attorney and other elected officials can allocate them.

Because several line items and spreadsheet totals required reconciliation, Commissioner (Speaker 2) moved to continue the formal 2019 budget adoption until the commission's next regular meeting (noted in the record as Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.). The motion passed 2''' 1. Before adjourning, the commission signaled support for including a cost-of-living adjustment or wage adjustment for employees as part of the coming budget discussion.

The commission adjourned after the continuance vote. The board will revisit the 2019 budget and any restricted funding requests at its next scheduled meeting.