Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety And Rates topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Draper raises small property tax to bolster police and fire; water rates to rise for city-supplied areas
Summary
Mayor Walker said the city enacted its first property tax increase in about 18 years, dedicated to public safety amid flattening sales-tax growth; he also announced incremental water-rate increases for residents served directly by Draper Water to fund expensive pump and transmission maintenance.
Draper enacted a modest property tax increase this year — the city’s first in roughly 18 years, Mayor Walker said — primarily to sustain police, fire and other general-fund services as year-over-year sales-tax growth slowed.
Walker framed the hike as targeted and small, saying the city remains among the lowest property-tax cities in Salt Lake County and noting the local portion of many residents' bills is modest (he gave an example of about $380 per year on his bill to fund local city services). He said the increase will go to public safety staffing, equipment and operations; Walker cited factors that have raised public-safety costs, including increased equipment prices and tighter hiring pools.
On fire equipment, Walker recalled that Draper’s first large truck cost about $890,000 seven years ago but the same type of apparatus can now run roughly $2.1 million and take two years to deliver, a trend that increases capital and response costs for the city. He said Draper deploys firefighters to out-of-state wildfires for training and reimbursement by host agencies, noting those deployments both help the city’s firefighters gain experience and bring revenue to the department when the host jurisdiction pays.
Separately, Walker explained water-rate increases for parts of Draper supplied by Draper City Water (not the entire city). He said Draper buys water from Jordan Valley Water, then pumps and delivers it to higher-elevation areas (Suncrest, South Mountain and portions of the Westside). Maintaining pumps and pressure infrastructure at those elevations is expensive, Walker said, and some major pump and valve components can cost about $1 million each; rate adjustments are intended to fund ongoing maintenance and system rebuilding rather than serve as general revenue.
Why it matters: The tax and rate changes touch most residents’ pocketbooks and fund core public-safety and utility services. Walker emphasized the choice to raise property taxes was driven by an inability to rely on previous sales-tax growth and increasing costs for public safety and infrastructure.
Walker emphasized the city’s intent to budget conservatively and continue prioritizing core services as costs rise.
