Below are some of the most common questions/topics that I have been asked

Q:   Why has Taylorsville continued to increase property taxes in 2022 and 2024?  

A:  Many factors are in play with our property taxes.  Fortunately, our tax rate is lower than that seen in other cities, but on occasion we need to increase property taxes.  The larger items covered in our taxes are below, in no particular order:

1:  Taylorsville Police Department

2:  Roads and Infrastructure

3:  City Staff

4:  City Services

Over the past decade, we have observed large increases in costs of goods, employee salaries, etc.  This has made it so that a larger pool of funding is needed for the budget to keep city operations the same as has previously existed.

Major sources of revenues to the City Budget, in no particular order, are:

1:  Property Tax

2:  Sales Tax

3:  Licensing Fees

4:  Grants Revenue, from the State, Federal Government, or other sources

Without increases to property taxes, the rate sent to us by Salt Lake County remains flat.  This means that as property values go up, the effective Taylorsville Tax Rate goes down in order to remit the same amount to Taylorsville City.  

The city has no control over how much will come in from grants and licenses.  Similarly, sales tax varies, depending on many factors such as the amount of sales which take place in Taylorsville, how good the economy that leads to more spending on items that are not necessities, etc.  This means that as spending on goods/services goes down, the amount that Taylorsville receives from Sales Tax decreases.

If there is a decrease to Sales Tax revenues, in order to maintain operations without a cut, increases to property taxes must be considered as this is the only source of revenue that the city has control over.  

I do not like property tax increases, but as necessary, I will support them as needed as we work to minimize the amount that needs to be increased.

Q:  What is your view on high density housing?  

A:  High density housing should be considered to see if it fits within the scope of Taylorsville and the resources available.  High density housing serves a purpose, but it should receive neither a blanket "yes" or "no".  Each proposal must be reviewed on an individual basis.

Q:   The new apartment construction I got notice of on 5300 So Bangerter is of great interest to me for many reasons.   

1. There will major disruptions after just living through the overpass construction. 

2. Where in the world are we getting water supply for such a large complex of over 600 units?

3. There is so much traffic at this intersection now, how will we manage 600-1000 cars added to that? It is a nightmare as is. We have no UTA Trax in this area.

A:  

1. There will definitely be disruption to traffic and the general state of the area.  I would hope that with proper planning and construction, things could be done such that the main streets are disrupted as little as possible.  Due to how large the plot of land is in question, they may be able to have minimal impact on traffic flow, but this will definitely be a major disruption, especially as we are looking at the upcoming UDOT work on the 4700 S and Bangerter Highway overpass.

2. Adding in anywhere between another 600 to 1500 total residents (estimating an average of 2.5 occupants per unit) will require a good amount of water for their needs.  We have a situation that is somewhat fortunate here as we are looking at apartments, so we should not need a lot of water for external landscaping needs (i.e. individual property lawns) but instead on needs for drinking, bathing, and home care (dishes and general cleaning).  Since it will take some time for buildings to be constructed and to have apartments made available for occupancy, I would hope that water conditions will improve, but we need to be careful with our overall water usage.  I hope that we would not be to the point of needing to ration water usage for residents in the city, but if conditions did not improve long-term, that may need to be exercised. 

3. Fortunately, not all residents will have a car, or will be driving in/out at the same time of day.  As we have the Bangerter Highway overpasses for 4700 S and 6200 S completed, we may see less traffic on 5400 S as some of this diverts to those areas.  We also have received a favorable amount of funding through the Legislature to help with road improvement projects for each city.  Taylorsville may be able to partner with UDOT to leverage some of this funding to improvements that can help to alleviate pressures currently seen on 5400 S and help to offset this influx of vehicles/traffic that will come with this new complex.

Q:   Why is it so important that we have our own police department and how has it helped Taylorsville?  

A:  When Taylorsville was incorporated, we had our own police department, and we eventually moved to join with the Unified Police Department (UPD).  Due to having little control over the number of officers assigned to Taylorsville and worry about our liability for lawsuits that involved partner areas, it was found that Taylorsville could operate its own police department for approximately the same amount to our taxpayers.  Taylorsville Police Department (TPD) was again formed, and the police are under the oversight of the Mayor of Taylorsville, funded by the budget approved byt the City Council.  

This allowed us to have full control over the number of officers, resources, etc. which Taylorsville has.  We have a unique situation where many officers will seek to come to Taylorsville because of the relationship that our city government has in support of the police force.  This has given us the best officers for Taylorsville that we could ask for, a force that works to keep our citizens safe and to help STOP CRIME IN TAYLORSVILLE!