council, budget, firelight, PIDS, Property taxes, livestock, & fireworks
by lori cole
“Fireworks from my backyard” by Lori Cole
There were no fireworks during this June 18 council meeting although there was a discussion about fireworks near the end. The discussions were long and convoluted, involving mostly technical aspects and logistics of doing city business, but if you are into the details, I have tried to highlight those for you.
Business Items
The City Manager (Ben) provided an excellent overview of state requirements and how city budgets are amended. The amended budget can be seen here.
State law only requires that you not exceed your total expenses in each fund, not line by line.
There are three ways to amend the budget:
1) Line Level - This method allows staff to recommend amendments that would not necessarily be in line with what the city council intended when the budget was passed.
2) Priority Level Amendment: A change during the year that wasn’t anticipated during the budget process is addressed.
3) Fund Level - Used when expenditures exceed what was budgeted, and our city manager prefers this method as it preserves the council’s original intent for the budget throughout the year.
We only need a budget amendment if an item went over what was budgeted in the particular fund (not line-by-line.) This method makes it easier to explain the reason for overage. The example used in this meeting was Parks fuel vs Parks maintenance - both in the same fund.
CHANGES PROPOSED IN THIS BUDGET AMENDMENT
1) There was a significant increase in the Toquerville Parkway fund. The fund has to be budgeted for all the work done through June 30th but the city hasn't seen all of the bills yet, so they are budgeting for the worst case scenario.
2) Water Fund: Significant changes - 78k increase in wages. The reason was an allocation shift between Public Works vs the Water Fund line items. The labor increase was not due to a new hire, as there were no new hires. The Public Works fund went down as the Water Fund expenditures went up due to the way Public Works employees are billing their work. It is merely an accounting issue.
The Council voted to approve the budget amendments.
MPDO - Firelight
Modification Application and Site Plan for Residential Planning Area 6 within the Firelight MPDO. We heard from the council and then speakers representing Firelight:
What this conversation boiled down to, after much debate, was a discussion over specs and the distribution/allocations/density transfers within the original framework of the Firelight development. No major changes. I thought I was going to lose my mind.
City Council voted to approve to amend the development agreement to reflect updated distribution.
Boulder Ridge PID Performance Guarantee - Wow, This is A LOT
By the time this discussion was over, we knew a lot more about PIDs (Long ago, Lynda Williams did a good job of explaining Public Infrastructure Districts in simple terms). Using PIDS for bonding is something new, so there was a lot of discussion on this. The reason for the discussion was almost lost. If you would like to know a lot about PIDs and how the city council wrangled with the hazards the city might face, please watch the video.
Councilman Olson pointed out that it sounds as if the PID relieves the developer of the responsibility to finish the project and asked, “What is best for Toquerville?”
Getting back to the original question posed to the council, the attorney clarified that the developer wants to record the plat before the improvements are completed, rather than waiting to record the plat until work is complete. The City wants an assurance that the improvements will be completed. (1:43:00) How will that assurance be attained? The council decided that they would not allow the plat to be recorded until the improvements are complete.
Motion to deny - all voted to deny.
Ordinance amending livestock in single family residential districts
The current ordinance requires any land with livestock must also have a residence on it. There is one lot in the city where livestock are kept but there is no home on the premises. That lot currently holds a conditional use permit which will continue until there is a complaint. Motion to approve amendment, motion carries.
fireworks
Resolution designating specific locations and times for fireworks – amending previous times to follow UT state code times - 11 AM to 11 PM, or 11 AM to midnight, depending on the day (ex: New Years, July 4th.)
Motion to approve carried.
Setting 2025 Property Tax Rate
This is NOT RAISING TAXES, it is just stating what the property tax is for 2025.
City Manager Ben explained that state code requires every city adopt by resolution the certified tax rate, but Toquerville has not been doing that.
The City Manager discussed how the tax rate is decided. (There are slides to view on the website.)
They take the tax rate value from the previous year, add the property valuation increase, then divide the revenue from prior year by this new valuation = the new tax rate for 2025.
The tax rate goes from .986 mils (2025) to .962 mils. The tax rate actually goes down as valuations increase. Revenue does not increase as valuations increase. Hmm.
However, the other component factors in new growth, or previously undeveloped properties which was approximately 15 million during the last tax year. That $15 mil is applied to the newly calculated rate (.962) = the total tax value of $301 million. The tax rate increases because of new growth not because of new property valuations.
Remember, this is only the City of Toquerville’s part of the property tax. Schools, Emergency Services, etc., increase rates and those also increase our property taxes. (Have you looked at all of the line items in the tax bill you get from Washington County?!!!)
Toquerville will see a “Truth In Taxation” Ordinance coming this fall to ensure our taxes track with the cost of providing services.
This resolution just approves .000962, which has already been set. It is not an increase.
Approved. (I wish you could look at the slides that City Manager Ben provided but they are not visible on the YouTube recording)
Lori’s 2 Cents
Keep in mind what most of us know from painful experience. The cost of providing services will continue to increase as more people move to Toquerville and to Washington County. Examples of those services include infrastructure like roads, water, sewer, and services such as fire, police, and schools. More services required simply means higher taxes for all. Even those folks who are barely scraping by as it is.
Calendar of Events
July 4th Celebration, 9 AM at Center Street Park - (Volunteers needed)
July 10, 8 AM Toquerville Parkway Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony (The parkway will NOT be opened that day)
July 24th, 7 PM at Center Street Park: Pioneer Day Celebration (Volunteers needed)