Weber County residents are facing potential tax hikes to help bolster the Weber Fire District and the county office that manages emergency dispatching operations.
Weber Fire District — which serves Farr West, West Haven, five other Weber County cities and the unincorporated areas of the county — is seeking the larger increase, a 23.6% hike to help build two fire stations and a training facility.
The increase would generate up to $2.96 million a year, on top of the $12 million or so collected for 2024. It would also raise the tax bill for the owner of a home valued at $676,000 — the average in district boundaries — by $94.95 a year to $497.61, though officials say the increase could be lower.
Weber Area Dispatch 911 and Emergency Services, which handles 911 calls from Weber County residents, is proposing a 4.9% tax increase to help bolster dispatchers’ pay. The increase would generate an extra $275,000 per year and boost the taxes on a $516,000 home — the average in the country — by $2.25 a year to $48.51.
The Weber Fire District tax increase would be applicable to property in its coverage area of Farr West, Hooper, Huntsville, Marriott-Slaterville, West Haven, Uintah, the new city materializing in the Ogden Valley and the unincorporated areas of Weber County. The Weber dispatch center hike would apply to property throughout Weber County.
The proposed hikes come as the two entities prepare their 2026 budgets and would be payable by property owners, if approved, in next year’s tax bills.
2 new stations and a training facility
The Weber Fire District proposal – focus of a public hearing next Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m. at district headquarters at 2023 W. 1300 North in Farr West — stems in part from increased call demand brought on by population growth. The new tax revenue would help pay for a brand new station in Hooper, in western Weber County; cover the cost of building a new station in West Haven, to replace the existing facility there; and finance construction of a training facility.
As the population in western Weber County grows, “we just felt we needed to get out there and service those areas,” said Fire Chief Britt Clark, in part to keep response times down. As is, the district operates six stations, and the new Hooper facility would increase that to seven.
The fire station in West Haven, built in the 1960s, is “inadequate” and can’t be remodeled, hence the plans to build anew and replace it. “It just needs to be replaced,” Clark said.
Weber Fire District, serving some 70,000 Weber County residents, currently uses shipping containers for training and sometimes taps the aging Ogden Fire Department training tower. But more is needed.
“It’s hard to simulate all the fires that we go to in a shipping container, so this is something we really need,” Clark said.
Simultaneous to the property tax hike, officials propose issuing $35 million to $40 million in bonds to generate the revenue to complete the three projects by 2027, according to the preliminary timeline. The property tax hike would generate the funds needed each year to make payments on the bonding.
The bond issue will be focus of a hearing on Nov. 18 at 6 p.m., also at the Farr West headquarters facility.
Separately, an earlier bond issue was paid off this year, so the resulting tax reduction would offset the increase brought on by the new proposed tax hike by about $13 a year for the owner of an average-valued home. Weber Fire District officials last approved a property tax hike in 2023.
Hiring and retaining workers
Kevin Rose, director of Weber Area Dispatch 911, said the entity is in line to collect $5.65 million in property taxes for 2025. The proposed tax increase, if approved, would bolster that by $275,000 in 2026.
A recent compensation study showed that Weber County dispatchers are earning less than their peers at other comparable entities around the state. The new tax funds would help raise their pay, bolstering efforts to get new workers and retain them once they’re hired, which Rose said has been a struggle.
The Weber dispatch center employs around 75 people.