Today, we cover… 

• Winter weather reminders with the snow we’re expecting this weekend!
  
• Recap of this week’s County Council meeting
  
• Upcoming public engagement opportunities, including the upcoming Truth in Taxation public hearings and the Community Planning Lab’s Final Project Presentations. 
  

WINTER WEATHER REMINDERS

A winter storm warning is in effect for Summit County today, December 1, through 5 PM Sunday, December 3. Heavy snow between 8-16 inches is expected.

With that much snow on the horizon, we wanted to remind our listeners of two useful tools that can turn to this winter. 

The Trash Dash will be your go-to place for waste collection and recycling information. It has Republic Services’ Winter Weather Delay policy listed, information on how you can sign up to receive service updates from Republic Services straight to your phone, how and where you can report a missed service in your trash or recycling, what best practices are for your curbside service, and more. You can locate the Trash Dash at summitcounty.info/trashdash. 

Another really helpful tool to utilize as the snow starts to really accumulate are the County’s Winter Safety Reminders, which you can find at summitcounty.info/wintersafety. This document gives you information on snow plow operations, the county right-of-way and personal property, winter parking restrictions, how to properly mark your utilities, and more! Again, you can access that document at summitcounty.info/wintersafety. 

COUNTY COUNCIL RECAP

At this week’s County Council meeting, proposed changes to the county-wide fee schedule were discussed. The county wide fee schedule basically establishes the cost for services provided by the county. 

Some highlights of the proposed changes include: 

• The solid waste division recommends tipping fees for mixed waste, green waste, and animal carcasses be adjusted to $40 per ton at 3 Mile, and $36 per ton at Henefer landfills. 
  
• They also recommended fees associated “special waste” disposal at the landfills. If residents choose to dispose of a mobile home at the landfill, staff recommend a fee of $500 and for disposal of boats or campers a fee of $100. 
  
• The library was charging $40 for a six-week driver’s license class for Spanish speakers, however, the class has moved to a Zoom-based platform and the Library desires to remove this fee from the fee schedule as changing it to an electronic format has done away with overhead costs for the class. 
  

You can review a full list of proposed changes at: summitcounty.info/fees24. 

In two weeks, on December 13, the county-wide fee schedule will be back before the Council for a public hearing and possible approval. If residents have thoughts on the proposed changes to the fee schedule, the 13th will be the time to voice your comments.

Also at this week’s Council meeting, there was a discussion on child care in Summit County. The Early Childhood Alliance, in collaboration with Summit County staff, developed a proposal for the County Council’s consideration to assist childcare providers and families in Summit County. 

The County was asked to provide $200,000 of funding for an employer match program that would allow for childcare expenses to be shared by the employer, the employee, and the County with each contributing one-third of the cost. Eligibility would be based on the employee’s family size and household income and would apply to Summit County employers only. A program like this would allow employers to invest and retain their talent; help employees pay for quality childcare; and help childcare providers stabilize their businesses. 

Additionally, the County was asked to provide $130,000 for a Summit County Needs-Based Scholarship Program. This program would provide a needs-based scholarship, administered by a third-party contractor to Summit County residents earning less than 65% AMI. 

No formal decision was made, but the Council was interested in exploring if there was room to include at least a portion of the proposal in the 2024 County budget. More conversation will certainly be had on this topic as we move through budget discussions this month. 

BUDGET PUBLIC HEARINGS

Speaking of the 2024 county budget, several conversations took place this week amongst county staff and the council. The goal of these discussions is for the Council and the County to come up with a budget that might help avoid going through Truth in Taxation. There was a specific focus this week on what cuts need to be made to the tentative budget to make that happen. Next week, on Monday, December 4, the Council will meet again to continue these discussions.

An important reminder to our listeners: on Wednesday, December 6 and the following week on Wednesday, December 13, there will be public hearings related to Truth in Taxation. Truth in Taxation is a public hearing process that allows residents to learn about and comment on the County’s proposal to increase property tax revenues. 

With the exception of new growth, a taxing authority may not receive more property tax revenues than what was received the prior year. The property tax calculation does not consider inflation or other increases in providing services.

The Utah Taxpayers Association recommends that taxing entities address inflation by going through this process every five to eight years. Summit County last went through the Truth in Taxation process in 2017. Other special service districts in the County, such as Service Area #6 have not gone through the process since 2013.

You can find more information about these public hearings at summitcounty.info/truthintaxation. 

COMMUNITY PLANNING LAB

The Fall 2023 Community Planning Lab participants, some of your friends and neighbors, have spent the last 10 weeks learning about planning in Summit County and designing a project to benefit our community!

They will be showcasing their final presentations to the Summit County community on Monday, December 4 at the Kamas Valley Branch of the Summit County Library (110 N. Main Street, Kamas).

All are welcome! Please join us anytime between 6-8 PM.