Two Tooele County Commissioners decided 2016 was the year to again raise property taxes — and commission pay, too.
Along with their 2017 budget, county commissioners Myron Bateman and Wade Bitner approved an estimated increase in the county general, the health and aging services, and the municipal services property tax levies during their Dec. 6 meeting.
At the same meeting, they approved an increase in the salary for county commissioners, closing the gap between pay for the commission and other elected officials.
However, county commissioner Shawn Milne voted against the budget, the property tax hikes, and the higher salary for commissioners.
“It’s just not a good time,” he said. “I don’t think it’s right to propose an increase in commissioner’s salary at the same time you are making the case for a 9 percent increase in property tax.”
Milne promised to donate his salary increase to local charities based in Tooele County.
After the budget approval, Bitner said, “We equalized the salary of all elected officials.”
The county commissioners, county assessor, clerk/auditor, recorder/surveyor, and treasurer all are slated for the same annual 2017 salary of $87,347.
That’s an 18.4 percent increase that totals an additional $13,581 for Bitner, and a 19.4 percent increase for Bateman and Milne, or an additional $14,208 each. That’s a combined total of $41,997 more for commission salaries in 2017, not including an increase in benefits tied to salaries, such as retirement contributions and employer’s share of social security.
The current county commission approved a commission salary increase in July 2015 but rescinded it after facing public criticism.
“Two years ago we were intimidated by a small, but vocal, group of citizens,” Bitner said. “And that is not a good way to govern.”
After the commission salary increase was approved on Dec. 6, some citizens showed up at the next county commission meeting. They reminded the commissioners that after they rescinded their 2015 salary raise, they promised not to accept a pay increase, other than a cost of living adjustment, during their current term in office.
“You told the Transcript Bulletin that you made the promise under duress,” said Thomas Karjola, a Stockton Town council member. “You could have said ‘No, I’m sorry I can’t make that promise at this time,’ but instead you lied because you don’t have the intestinal fortitude to tell the truth.”
Bateman and Bitner said they supported the salary increase to provide pay equity for a commissioner’s work and to help attract candidates to run for county commissioner.
With pay comparable to other elected officials, and commensurate with the time and work involved, more candidates will be attracted to run for commissioner, according to Bateman and Bitner.
In addition to the salary increase for commissioners, the 2017 budget also contained three increases in property tax revenue that come with estimated property tax increases.
Actual tax rates will not be set until July 2017, but the 2017 budget includes an estimated 8.67 percent increase in the combined county general and health department property tax levy, which is expected to raise an additional $495,100 in new revenue for the county and the health department.
This estimated increase will add an additional $15 per year to the property tax bill of a $200,000 home in both unincorporated and incorporated areas of Tooele County.
The municipal services tax levy will increase by an estimated 9 percent to generate an additional $151,851 for the municipal services fund.
The increase would raise the annual property tax on a residence valued at $200,000 in unincorporated Tooele County by $8 per year.
This is the third tax increase in the last four years for the county general and health department tax. It is the second increase for the municipal services property tax since the tax was adopted three years ago.
Six county residents spoke at the county commission meeting after the budget was adopted to voice their disapproval of the increased pay for county commissioners.
“I’m asking you commissioners to rescind your pay raise,” said Jewel Allen, a Grantsville City Council member. “When I heard the news, I was disappointed and surprised. You don’t pass tax increases on your constituents and then turn around and pass a pay raise. … If you truly care about your county constituents, how can you pass this pay and tax raise combo and look in the eye of a single mother struggling to clothe and feed her kids…”