By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Months of work by Wellington city came to a head on Wednesday, Sept. 10, as the City Council convened to finalize a decision on the city’s property tax increase. In a unanimous decision, the council voted to approve an increase of approximately 100%, a significant decrease from the previously proposed 225% hike.
The decision comes after contentious public hearings and a hunt for solutions by the council.
Opening the meeting, during the public comment period, Wellington Financial Advisor Barbara Clendennen provided a call to action for citizens. “We’re all in this together,” she said, before adding,” Help us bail out the ship and stop the leak.”
She recommended residents do this by volunteering their time to the city through civic cleanups and landscaping, while also imploring them to attend city council meetings. Clendennen spoke,” You cannot abdicate your responsibility as a citizen and expect them to do it all,” referring to the council.
“After spending hours listening to constituents of Wellington City, a lot of them say the same thing. It’s too much at one hit,” said Mayor Jack Clark. “My recommendation, also being a resident of Wellington City, is that the tax increase has to happen. But we listen to what the citizens are saying. We do not do the biggest hit, and if we have to do another one next year, we’re going to do another one next year. We do a smaller one this time. Let’s figure it out.”
Mayor Clark continued with some potential solutions to aid the budget further,” I spoke with the county again. There’s a possibility that they might increase the sales tax to make it in line with some of these other cities, and that little bit of a percentage actually would help.
“I agree from having a number of conversations and certainly the public expression of what, how they would like this handled, it would be more incremental than all at once,” expressed Council member Bryan Thayn. “We’ve discussed a number of ways to help improve the budget, and I think all those should be supported, but it will require a tax increase, and if some of the ideas do not get developed or come to fruition, it will require another.”
Council member Kathy Hascal interjected, explaining more methods of future savings, namely municipal bonds and partnering with the Utah League of Cities and Towns. The council also collectively agreed to strip the budget down to the bare essentials to help prevent another increase next year.
Resident Tom King addressed the council,” I understand, you’re gonna have to raise them. You want to drive to Salt Lake at 120 miles per hour or 12 miles per hour. You’re still going to get there. We know we’re gonna get there. Let’s get it at 100% right now. It’s a lot better than 225%.”
King added,” I do ask that you get your budgets in line. Find those expenses you can cut. Talk to other city governments and maybe make a little cooperative with smaller cities.”
Ultimately, the council settled on a .003 increase, which puts the city at approximately a 100% increase, a 125% difference from the initial proposal. On a $200,000 home, this would mark an increase of roughly $20 a month.
Closing the meeting, Mayor Clark revisited the topic of civic engagement, saying he had received an email from a citizen saying that if the city provided flowers, they would water and take care of them. When reminded that he said he would pay out-of-pocket for such a project, Clark replied,” I’ll take care of it.”