Davis County leaders are split on the proposed property tax hike of as much as 30% as debate on the county’s 2026 budget plays out.
County Commissioner Bob Stevenson thinks a tax hike of no more than 10%, combined with the use of reserves, among other steps, would be enough to get the county on a good financial footing, at least in the near term. The first of three open houses on the budget was set for Thursday at the Layton Library, though no action will be taken at the meeting.
County officials “can realistically get away with the 9.9 (percent increase) and we will be more than healthy for at least the next two years before we have to look at anything else,” he said at a Davis County Commission meeting on Tuesday. “The rainy day fund is there for situations like this, and I believe that we need to not be afraid to use that rainy day fund.”
On Thursday, he said county officials were increasingly mulling the possibility of a 14.9% hike, higher than the 10% he spoke about on Tuesday but less than the 30% maximum proposal.
Commissioner Lorene Kamalu, meanwhile, expressed support for Davis County Controller Scott Parke in his efforts to craft a balanced budget, though she didn’t pinpoint a specific increase palatable to her. Parke has put forward two other budget options aside from the plan calling for a 30% tax hike, one that would leave taxes as is, another calling for a 14.9% hike. But he warns that both would require service and job cuts, and neither would resolve the county’s financial shortcomings beyond the near term.
If officials “choose not to fund services as they exist right now, commissioners will have to cut positions and millions of dollars from the budget,” Kamalu said, alluding to the potential upshot of spurning the plan calling for the 30% hike. “If we do not fund services as they exist right now, then we are on the hook, as a board of commissioners, to be equally as public about what we will cut.”
John Crofts, the third county commissioner, didn’t offer a specific position but noted phone calls he’s been receiving from the public on the issue. “These are very, very heavy decisions that are placed on us,” Crofts said.
A 30% hike, if approved, would generate an extra $12.68 million for Davis County, boosting property tax revenue from $42.29 million for 2025 to $54.97 million for 2026. The owner of a $600,000 home, which is about average, would see a $100.48-per-year increase in taxes, from $335.28 to $435.76. A 14.9% hike would generate around $6 million for the county, Stevenson said, and cut the annual tax hike for homeowners by half of what a 30% hike would cost.
The issue came up for discussion at Tuesday’s Davis County Commission meeting, when officials unanimously adopted the preliminary 2026 budget. Debate is hardly over, though, as county officials still weigh their options. Aside from Thursday’s open house in Layton, similar meetings will be held on Nov. 12 at the Centerville Library and Nov. 18 at the Syracuse Library, each starting at 6 p.m.
The required truth-in-taxation hearing, during which the public can formally offer their comments on the proposal, is set for Dec. 2. Commissioners would likely take official action a week after getting that input, according to Stevenson.
‘Simply unsustainable’
The call for the tax hike of as much as 30% stems from rising costs, according to analysis prepared by Parke, underscored by inflation of 32% since 2017, the last time Davis County officials approved a property tax hike. The county has reserve funding — sometimes called rainy day funds or a fund balance — but Parke warns that that money could be gone by 2028. “This path is just simply unsustainable,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting.
More specifically, wages for Davis County Sheriff’s Office and jail officials have increased by $7.12 million since 2020. At the same time, the cost of providing health care to jail inmates has gone up by $2.6 million, pay and staffing costs in the Davis County Attorney’s Office have increased by $3.08 million, and the cost of providing public defenders to those who need them has jumped by $2.47 million.
Aside from the proposal calling for the 30% tax hike, Parke has put forward two other possibilities to address shortcomings in Davis County spending. One calls for a $12.7 million cut in spending — the amount that would be raised by the 30% tax hike — by eliminating 55 jobs, including 40 public safety and criminal justice positions. The job cuts would be paired with a halt to pay hikes.
The downside of the plan would be “a significant reduction in services across the board,” Parke said.
The other plan calls for a property tax hike of 14.9%, which would generate around $6.3 million, and $2 million to $4.2 million in spending cuts, which would require the elimination of 14 posts.
Neither alternative would allow the county to save for future capital projects, according to Parke.
In arguing against a 30% property tax hike, Stevenson noted that the county has averaged a budgetary “turnback” of $6 million to $7 million, over the last three years. That represents budgeted funding not spent and excess revenue entering county coffers. He also noted the county’s “very hefty, very healthy fund balance” of around $30 million, which, if tapped, could limit the needed tax hike.
Parke was appointed to the controller position, an elected post, after Curtis Koch, the previous officeholder, stepped down in July. As a newcomer to Davis County government, Stevenson said he offers a different budgeting philosophy than his predecessor.