Today, we cover…

• 2024 County Budget Process / Important Dates 
  
• Truth in Taxation
  
• County-wide EMS Update
  
• Our Summit Update 
  

2024 COUNTY BUDGET

At this week’s County Council meeting the County Manager’s Office presented their recommended 2024 budget.  

The manager’s proposed budget will be presented in several upcoming meetings:

• October 18 – COLA, Personnel, Recommended new Positions
  
• October 25 – New Programs, Areas of Significant Increases
  
• November 1 – Potential Departmental Appeals, Areas of Council Interest
  
• November 8 – Budget discussion in terms of Council Work Plan and Priorities (alignment)
  
• November 13 – Special Revenue Funds, including TRT, RAP, Restaurant, etc
  
• November 29 – County Service Districts, Discussion related to Unfunded Projects, Capital Projects; Unresolved Concerns
  

County Council and staff will also meeting in a strategic planning retreat on October 30 & 31st to discuss 2024 work plan priorities and how they will impact the 2024 budget.

Two public hearings on the final proposed budget are scheduled for December 6 and December 13. On December 13, the 2024 budget and any 2023 budget amendments are scheduled to be adopted.

TRUTH IN TAXATION

Also at council this week, the county notified the Council of its intent to levy a tax rate which exceeds the County’s Certified Tax Rate. This notification of intent is the first step in a longer Truth in Taxation process that will take place over the next few months. 

The truth in taxation encourages transparency and provides an opportunity for residents to comment on the proposed increase before the County Council makes a final decision.

Presented at this week’s council meeting a tax increase that would bring in almost $5.5 million to cover what Council Chair, Roger Armstrong, described as a “needs-based” 2024 budget. The additional funds would help cover unfunded projects next year, including the countywide EMS system, as well as heightened staffing needs. 

For the County’s General Fund, a 15.6% increase was proposed which would bring in $2.8 million. For the average primary resident with a home value of $1.3 million this would equate to a $45.49 increase on this line item of property their tax bill. We want to be clear that this is not a 15% increase in the OVERALL tax bill – in this case it’s just that amount in the Summit County General Fund, which is a single line item on the property tax bill.

For the Assessing and Collecting Fund, the proposed increase would cost the average primary resident $22.88 on this line item of their property tax bill. The General Fund and the Assessing and Collecting Fund are collected from ALL parcels in Summit County.

For the Municipal Services Fund, which funds services like garbage and law enforcement to county residents that live outside of cities/towns, the proposed increase would cost the average primary resdient in unincorporated Summit County $12.02 on this line item of their property tax bill. 

Finally, the proposed increase to Service Area #6 would support road maintenance in subdivisions outside of cities & towns. The cost to the average primary resident in SA6 is $91.39 on this line item of their property tax bill.  

Please keep in mind that these proposed increases represent the ceiling in which the county could increase the tax rate. Through the Truth in Taxation process these numbers are not to be exceeded. The council could choose to increase by the full amount, settle on a lesser amount, or decide not to increase at all. 

Tax rates are certified on June 22, 2024, so the Council will have until then to decide. The public hearings on the rates will be Dec 6 and 13 of this year. We’ll be sure to keep our listeners updated on more specific details surrounding those meetings as the process moves forward. 

COUNTY EMS UPDATE

Next up, the Council convened as the governing body of Park City Fire Special Service District. 

For some context before we dive in, last year the interlocal agreements between the County and Park City Fire were amended and extended for Park City to continue to provide ambulance service to the area covered by each of the three fire districts (Park City, North Summit, and South Summit). They are one-year agreements that will expire November 2 of this year. 

In late September of this year, the County Council decided to fund basic 911 EMS service countywide moving forward. The County has entered into a contract with each of the three fire districts to do so. Each Fire District will be responsible to provide EMS within its boundaries.  These contracts don’t go into effect until January 1 of 2024. If you want more detail on this go back and listen to our September 22 episode where we dive a bit deeper on the future of EMS service in the county. 

Anyway, this leaves us with almost a two-month gap in ambulance coverage or service, so at this week’s council meeting the Council approved to extend the status quo, if you will. This means that Park City Fire will continue to provide ambulance service to all three fire districts through the end of the year until the new agreements take effect in January when each fire district will take over EMS services within their boundaries, as funded by the county.

OUR SUMMIT COMMUNITY VISIONING

County staff and the project team from Logan Simpson provided an update to County Council and both the Snyderville Basin and Eastern Summit County Planning Commissions on the year-long community visioning process. This meeting was the first time that County Council has met with both planning commissions jointly.

A draft of the vision statement was discussed in addition to the key objectives that emerged from public input. Planning commissioners responded to the visions statement and overall findings and discussed potential next steps once the visioning process concludes, including how to take action on the findings.

This weekend is your last chance to participate in Phase 3 of Our Summit. Your responses will directly impact and guide the future of Summit County. You’ll help us understand how YOU prioritize certain features of your local community, what enhancements you would like to see and how you think growth should be handled. Take Questionnaire 3 BY SUNDAY NIGHT (October 15) at oursummitcounty.com.