Attend the city council meeting - june 12, 2024 @ 6pm
ANOTHER TAX INCREASE??
Here we go again, again...
Attend the city council meeting June 12, 2024 @ 6pm.
"Government is and should be the servant of the people, and it should be fully accountable to them for the actions which it supposedly takes on their behalf."
Federal Sunshine Act of 1976 synopsis
"An open letter to Bluffdale citizens"
Tammy Rasmussen - Primary Officer BluffdaleCitizens4ResponsibleTaxation
Well, here we go again. Please bear with me…
For the third year in a row, a tax increase is being put before our Bluffdale City Council tomorrow evening, June 12, 2024, as they discuss the budget.
Once again, we’re being told the increase is needed for police and fire protection, however, once again, they are also proposing raises for “executive municipal officers”. (See agenda item 8.2)
The city claims once again that it doesn’t have the proper funds for police and fire, but it DOES have funds for raises for executive officers? Keep in mind here, when they increase executive’s salaries, they’re also increasing the monthly pension amounts that these individuals will receive for the rest of their lives. Does this sound fishy to anyone else?
For the last 3 years when many of us have approached the city and city council members and asked questions about the budget, we are labeled as “hateful”, “fear mongers”, told we don’t know what we’re talking about, and so on, as well as being told we “should get involved sooner if we really have issues”. When we DO get involved sooner, we are labeled as “CAVE people”, told we just don’t understand the numbers, and once again that we’re “hateful”, “fear mongers” and that we must hate the fire and police. None of which are true or accurate.
Unfortunately, we are living in a political climate where those in power do not like being questioned by those they are supposed to represent. We’ve seen several examples of this in our own state on the state level and we currently have it at our city level. Yet that is exactly how our constitutional republic is set up. We’re supposed to elect individuals to truly represent us, the citizens, and we as citizens are supposed to keep our duly elected individuals in check.
Ultimately, police and fire should be budgeted for FIRST. Period. Everything else should come afterward and cuts should be made wherever necessary. (Keep in mind, for the last three fiscal years, according to the audited financial statements, the city moved to reserves, funds that ranged from $872K up to $1.4M.)
Yet at the last city council meeting we had two council members (Wendy A. & Greg W.) who claimed cutting back on their $1.8MILLION added wish list was “cutting the budget as far as we can”. So, we’ve got a $1.8MILLION wish list but not enough money for police and fire? Does this irritate anyone else?
They’re not being good stewards of the budget. They’re not being fiscally responsible. They don’t care to listen to the citizens that they are supposed to be representing.
Enough is enough. When is this going to stop? Not until enough of us keep showing up and keep showing up and keep voicing our displeasure over and over again.
PLEASE, show up at the city council meeting tomorrow, June 12, 2024, at 6PM.
Voice your displeasure. Politely, of course, but on record. Then call and email and call again, every single council member. Maybe this will be the year they finally start listening to us and realize we are serious about them fixing the budget and no longer holding safety services hostage, so to speak.
True leaders don’t rule by fear.
Thank you for your time. We hope to see standing room only tomorrow night.
In the event you cannot attend in person, you may submit an emailed response before 4pm June 12, 2024 to Councilmeetingcomment@bluffdale.gov
"Inflation Isn't Raising Your Taxes - Cities Are"
Malah Armstrong - VP of Utah Taxpayers Association
by Malah Armstrong | Aug 2, 2023 | Newsletters, The Utah Taxpayer
In July, the Utah Taxpayers Association published a list of the 78 entities proposing to raise taxes in 2023. In reviewing the reasons behind some of these proposals, common themes included hiring new law enforcement and public safety personnel, making city employee pay more competitive, and “inflation”. Over the last several years, almost everything has been blamed on inflation. Housing prices, flight prices, food prices, postage stamp prices and yes, tax increases. But to what extent is inflation a valid argument for cities to raise taxes?
While it is true that cities’ costs have increased because of inflation, so too have their revenues. Sales tax is a percentage of the cost of purchased goods and services. A higher cost of these goods and services means a higher amount of sales tax is being paid. For example, a $10 burger in Salt Lake City is subject to a 7.75% sales tax of $0.775. If inflation causes that burger to increase in price to $12, the sales tax collected increases to $0.93. Applied to almost every item purchased, this increase in sales tax translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars of increased revenues for cities.
Between our 2022 and 2023 Cost of City Government reports, average city collections increased by more than $2MM, from $26,358,207 to $28,382,837, and median collections increased by more than $4MM, from $40,797,438 to $45,152,808. There were several reasons for these increases, including growth and impact fees, but many cities saw substantial increases in sales tax revenues. If cities want to argue that inflation has caused their expenses to increase, they must also concede that inflation has caused their revenues to increase.
There is also evidence to suggest city costs have not increased by much more than the inflation they have captured. The Municipal Cost Index, developed and quantified by American City and County since 1978, shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services. The Consumer Price Index – a measure of inflation more broadly – often deviates more than the MCI and demonstrates that the cost of providing government services often does not increase as much as headline inflation would indicate. As seen in the chart below, this has been the case in 2023 once again with the year over year change in MCI significantly below the change in the CPI.
The Utah Taxpayers Association encourages cities to go through the Truth in Taxation process every 5-7 years to respond to inflation, or to capture the modest difference between the MCI and the CPI. However, the idea that taxes should be raised every year to respond to inflation is born out of poor budgeting practices and lazy excuses. The Truth in Taxation process is based on the simple truth that taxes rise only when entities want to spend more money. While there are legitimate reasons for an entity to increase their budget, the claim that it is a necessary response to inflation is – at best – disingenuous.
https://utahtaxpayers.org/inflation-isnt-raising-your-taxes-cities-are/
Top 10 Problems With Bluffdale's 2023 Proposed Tax Increase.
Once again, we find ourselves in a similar position as that of only 10 short months ago. Did not almost 69% of Bluffdale residents, in a record voter turnout for a non-Presidential election year, say "NO" to an almost 31% Bluffdale property tax increase in 2022? If you answered, "yes, they did", you'd be correct.
"Does Bluffdale have a tax-insufficiency problem? Or a prioritization and spending problem?"
