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Property Taxes
About the Tax Increase
Tonight at 6pm the city is holding a final meeting to address and vote on the proposed property tax increase. The meeting will be in the form of a public truth in taxation hearing with public input leading to a council vote on whether to increase property taxes, and if so how much (up to a 16% cap). Feel free to come down and participate – the meeting is at 351 W. Center St. Provo, UT.
I’d very much like to thank those who attended the four informational meetings held by the council to better explain how property taxes function in the city of Provo. I enjoyed attending and hearing the input from our residents on all aspects of the city’s tax policies.
As I have made clear from the beginning, I will be voting against the proposed tax increase tonight.
UPDATE: Victory! The tax increase was unanimously rejected by the council!
Will Provo Increase Property Taxes?
As a reminder, this week the Provo City Council will be holding four public meetings to discuss the proposed 16% increase in property taxes.
Those in my district and others interested are invited to attend a meeting at 351 West Center Street. The meeting will take place today, July 26th, at 6:30pm.
Other meetings will be held throughout the week in various parts of the city (click here to view when and where).
Keeping taxes low has always been a top priority for me as a city council representative. Shortly after taking office I was very proud that we as a council along with the Mayor were able to actually decrease property taxes.
This year, Mayor Curtis once again presented a balanced budget without the need for a property tax increase.
The council is currently in the process of taking public input to assist in the consideration of the increase which, beyond the mayor’s budget proposal, would allow the city to afford various ‘unfunded priorities’ such as additional policemen.
I support the mayor’s hard work to avoid an increase in property taxes for this year’s budget. As a city, we should first cut spending before looking to new taxes; I will be voting against the proposed property tax increase.
I have discussed property taxes with dozens of constituents, many of whom expressed concern over increasing taxes. Whether you support or oppose the tax increase, I want to hear from you. Please take a moment to attend tonight’s meeting, email me, or message me on Facebook with your thoughts.
Provo City Recreation Center
During today’s council meeting we received an update on the new Provo Recreation Center. The current goal is to complete the construction by February of 2013. The architect was announced as being VCBO architecture, the group which had prepared the initial rec-center study. I imagine that this means the final product will be fairly similar to the original concept they provided us with.
One component of effectively building this nearly $40 million dollar project is getting the contractor, Sandy based Layton Construction, involved early in the design process. Based on everything I have seen it looks like both firms are already working hard to make sure that the residents get an extremely good product at a fair price to the taxpayers.
Many will remember that last November 59% of Provo voted in favor of a modest property tax increase in order to pay for the recreation center.
I imagine many details still remain to be finalized prior to construction, but would invite you to look at this PDF to get some idea of the key services and activities that the new rec center will bring to the city.