City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. you you

To the limited formal meeting for the Salt Lake City Council. I don't know where that came from. That's embarrassing. Maybe it's because I said county too many times today. So welcome to today's meeting. We're happy to have you here, whether you are in person or joining us online. We hope that you continue to participate in whichever manner you feel the most comfortable. Today we are convening a limited formal meeting, which means that this is not a standard formal meeting. On June 16th, 2026, we adopted an interim tax levy, an interim budget. Tonight, the council needs to consider action on the final step in the annual budget process for the city final budget adoption and truth in taxation hearing required by state law. A truth in taxation hearing happens when any of the following takes place. The city raises property taxes, property tax stabilization, and judgment levy. The city is adopting a property tax increase to provide 13,500,000 of additional ad valorem taxes revenue generated by the 9.16% property tax increase. Additional tax revenue is required for the city operations outlined in the property tax impact schedule, including but not limited into public safety, public lands, youth and family programming, public utility matters, and the city vehicle fleet maintenance. Although the hearing is a formal step required by state, by the state, the council is always interested in hearing from the council. Feedback from the public helps the council make decisions in future budgets or even amendments to this year's budget. If you would like additional information regarding the property tax assessment, please visit the Salt Lake County Treasurer's website, www.saltlakecounty.gov slash treasurer slash property taxes. Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Before we continue through the agenda, I want to quickly go through the registration information and share the reasoning about how and why we chair these meetings the way we do. We welcome everyone regardless of your opinion or your side on an issue because we will have people from varying positions on important issues. The council goal is to make the meeting a place where people feel safe and comfortable participating. This is the most local level of government and is a key value of ours to ensure that we have created a respectful and safe environment so that no one is intimidated out of free participation. This also allows us to ensure that the meeting can continue and that we can conduct the schedule city business. We invite each of you to contribute to this space, to speak your mind and to welcome others do the same. In order to create this welcoming and safe space, we will pause the meeting at any action that causes a disruption to our ability to conduct the meeting, or any safety concern involving threats or unprotected speech. If there are repeated actions or comments, it may result in the removal from the meeting. To avoid intimidating others, please avoid the use of threatening and discriminatory language. Do not insult others based on religion, ethnicity, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, or physical ability. Whether you agree or disagree with someone's comment, clapping, cheering, shouting, booing, snapping, gesturing, obstructing, or discouraging others from commenting is not allowed. Just as a reminder, Council members will refrain from reacting or responding to allow everyone to share their opinions freely. This is to keep our reactions from affecting your ability to share your opinion freely. If you would like to follow up with any of us, please see Council staff in this room, or you can message in Zoom for contact information. When making your comments, please address the body and know an individual elected official. If you have a handout for the council, please raise your hand and council will assist you. Staff is available during the meeting and after too. So if you have questions or information that you seek. If you want the council rules that are posted on the chat and that are also posted outside this room. Just as a reminder, our public comment registration process, individuals might register to comment on scheduled public hearing items until the hearing is closed. If you're on Zoom, you need to unmute your microphone when your name is called. Each person will have two minutes. If you reach the two minute mark, the host will announce time and your microphone will be muted. We'll be calling those registered in the order of sign up. If you need assistance in the room right here, please raise your hand, staff will assist you. If you need assistance when you're online, contact the administrator of the meeting and they will assist you. If you have technical issues, staff support and Zoom can assist you.

And that's Akshay from our staff.

Just if you're able, if you're not able to share all your comment in those two minutes, you can send us the rest of the comment via email. You can also mail it to us. And the contact information for that is at slc.gov slash council. If you have a handout, please notify the Council staff before you begin. So let's begin with the item on the agenda, which is the Truth in Taxation public hearing for fiscal year 2026-2027. Before we begin taking comments, I'm going to turn the time to Jennifer Bruno, Council Executive Director, to give us a short introduction. Jen?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you mentioned, we're having a truth in taxation hearing tonight as a requirement of state law based on the proposed interim fiscal year 2027 budget, which includes $13.5 million in additional property tax revenue. The property tax impact schedule, which lists all of the proposed uses for the proposed tax increase, is on our council website at link.slc.gov forward slash SLCFY27. Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. Isaac, please start with the first public comment.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have four people registered to speak to this item. The first will be Brooke Brin, followed by Eric Miller, and then Susana Arguello.

So... I bought my house in 1990 on the budget. Let's move on quickly to the water bills and the city bills. In 2005, I paid $26.50. in the wintertime for my bill. This last year, $136. It's up 523%. In the summertime in 2025, I paid a little over $40 for my water bill. This year, $167 plus, up 417%. I paid, I used 30% less water this year in June, 34% less in July, and I paid more for both.

Time.

Thank you. Just as a reminder, please, if you haven't been able to finish your comment in the two minutes, please make it, you have an opportunity to share with staff to make it to us. Next comment.

Next will be Susana Arguello, followed by R. Scott Birdsall, and then back to Brooke Brint. Susana's here in person.

Thank you to all. My name is Susana Arguello, and I'm really happy to come again to Salt Lake City, my favorite city, after I visited so many states, because the culture, the cleanliness of the city, our people, our government, and diversity I can tell you increasing the property taxes will not be good at all. We know that the increase of everything is up, everything. But if we do that, many people will decline in many ways. Will it be poverty so much? Probably we can reach 100% poverty plus. and not able to have the education that we needed because we are paying the property taxes, when that happen, affect everybody, the people who are renting the places, who already, at this moment, they are facing so much struggles. By myself, for instance. I have my degree. I should be in better position, but what is going on right now, I cannot handle the financials right now because everything is expensive. You can imagine how much is increase in property. So the owners of the property also increase the rent. So I don't think so it's good to do that because everything will increase. Our city that is wonderful, many people coming over the world to live here because they say, oh, here is amazing because they coming see that everything they can buy it. Many people from California is killed, thousands of people. But I believe that the government should do something because it's not anything about money. It's about a good living, to have a good society, to care about people because we need a good government that they can start up for the people who really need it. Thank you.

Next will be our Scott birds off, followed by Brooklyn. Our Scott is here in person.

Okay, so I'm supposed to tell you my name are Scott birds all, and I live in Mapleton. So I'm being taxed here without representation. Um, I would really like to know why, I didn't even realize this was about a water allocation, if that's what it is. I'm just going by what I was told on my tax bill, or my estimated tax bill that just recently came. I just don't understand why anything needs to increase by 12% from one year to the next. And if you guys have got some material for me to review, maybe it makes sense, but at this point, The fact that I get a notice from the tax collector and I don't even know exactly what category. It just says Salt Lake City is going up 12%. And there's also an issue for a, what does it say, a judgment levy that's being created out of whole cloth. I don't know what that's about either. It would be nice if we knew those things. and then maybe we could discuss them. But it sounds like a decision is about to be made without me knowing anything about what this decision really involves.

And next will be Brooke Brin, who is here in person.

I'm Brooke Brin. I'm other sole bread maker and homeowner in Rose Park. Despite my family's economic desperation, I currently have $25 in my bank account. I'm not here to complain about the increased taxes. I'm here because I feel trust has been betrayed. I want to trust the city. If there was a way, I would want to donate. But the budget betrays the city's trust in three major ways. The most significant tax increases Police, not tax, budget increases. The increased budget feels like it's paired with the increased taxes. So police, mass surveillance, and the justice system. We have a 5% increase to the police budget, which is one of the most significant sections of the city budget. Living in Rose Park, many of my law-abiding neighbors fear the police. I was confused by that for a while until I realized that a lot of my high school bullies are cops. And then I saw that cops are about twice as likely to beat their wives. I can't help but wonder how many cops enjoy the violence and their qualified immunity. About $500,000 of that police budget will increase the funding to flock cameras. Why are we handing the reins of mass surveillance over to known abusers? We already hear stories of cops using it to stalk their exes. Besides, I thought a Hearing for this was scheduled for September 15th. Is that hearing simply theater? Have you already decided? There's a bunch more, but please, if you're not going to allocate funds yourselves, allow people who care to donate.

That was the final registered commenter for this item.

Thank you, all of those that made comments. And I need a motion.

Mr. Chair, I move that the council close the public hearing and adopt an ordinance approving the final rate of tax levy for all city funds, including the library fund on all real and personal property within Salt Lake City, made taxable by law for fiscal year 2026-27. Second.

Council Member Duggan for the motion and Council Member Pietro for the second. Is there any discussion?

Council Member Ward. I just appreciate the people who came out to speak. We did in our budget adoption, adopting the tentative budget talked a lot about the issues facing the city, the affordability issues that we're facing. I don't want to repeat those. Those are part of the public record from the last meeting. I hope that you'll take a minute to listen to them. I'm also willing to stay and answer a few questions after this meeting, if people have them. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments because I'm a warden I I do want to run down You know that this and I know that for the discussions to the lengthy discussions this year on the budget They were not easy I'm trying to balance the budget with less revenue and increasing cost. And I remember some of the facts and I was trying to look at them because they were so shocking. Asphalt that everybody is asking us all the time for better streets used to cost $44 a ton in 2020 and now it costs $64 a ton. Right for us. And the price of gas for our own vehicles has increased. And the cost of equipment for firefighters, you know, went up a third. And then trying to balance the needs of a growing city with less revenue created a lot of, you know, created concerns. constraints and competing needs. And I do appreciate the administration and pretty much finding $13 million in savings. looking into every single department and trying to reduce the budget to see if we can make it without an increase. It turned out to be that it was not possible with the budget that we had in front of us. Um, there is the impact to all of our neighbors is heavy. Um, and I don't think anybody here took it lightly. Um, and if the many discussions we had in the last few months, there are public records of them. Um, we we struggle a lot and trying to find consensus and find a budget that makes sense. Um, and I, um I appreciate the discussions and it's not lost on any of us and certainly not to me about how hard it is to make ends meet in this time. So I wanted to end with that, at least for me. I appreciate everybody. I have a motion by Councilmember Dugan and a second by Councilmember Pietro. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Okay, this motion carries unanimously. This concludes our limited formal city council meeting. This meeting now is adjourned. Now is not adjourned.

council closed the public hearing and adopt an ordinance approving the final budget for salt lake city for fiscal year 2026 2027 including the property tax increase outlined in the property tax impact schedule the final budget action includes a tax rate adjustment exceeding the certified tax rate and will release revenue funds received through the tax rate increase from the restricted fund created at the time of the interim budget adoption

Second. I have a motion by Council Member Worden and a second by Council Member Dugan. Is there any discussion? I'm going to call the question. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? This motion carries unanimously. Sorry for the confusion. This is a new process. It's a new process that the state has required us to do right now. So it's my fault for not paying attention. So that motion carries unanimously. And now this time is correct. This concludes our limited formal city council meeting. This meeting now stands adjourned.

So,