Heber City Finance Director Sara Nagel announced the city’s intent to raise its property tax rate in the upcoming fiscal year 2027, which begins on July 1, during a Heber City Council meeting on Tuesday.

The city plans on increasing its property tax rate by 5.2%. That means an average home — valued at $850,000 — would pay about $19 more in property taxes annually, while a business of that same value would pay about $34 more.

The purpose of the increase is to generate an additional $174,000 for the general fund. 

The city has 27 different funds “to ensure that very specific revenue is being spent in very specific ways,” Nagel explained. The general fund is the largest and most flexible in its applicable use. It supports administration, public safety, planning and general operations. The Heber City Police Department takes the largest piece of the pie, about $7.5 million of the general fund in fiscal year 2027.

The proposed general fund would total almost $19 million in fiscal year 2027, representing over a quarter of Heber City’s $72 million budget. The city budgeted $92 million for fiscal year 2026 but is projected to spend about $20 million less than that by July 1.

Several revenue sources make up the general fund. Sales taxes contribute the most, almost $7.7 million in the fiscal year 2027 budget, while property taxes come in second at about $4.4 million.

In other words, property tax revenue will make up about 6% of the city’s overall budget in fiscal year 2027. Heber City has increased its property tax rate five times in the past 15 years: a 4.1% increase in fiscal year 2011, 32.3% in 2015, 10% in 2022, 8% in 2024 and 9.3% in 2025.

Nagel explained that the proposed increase in fiscal year 2027 is to cover the cost of inflation.

“The city is also impacted by inflationary costs with health insurance, (cost-of-living adjustments), materials, supplies, construction,” she said.

City Councilor Mike Johnston added that regular, smaller increases in the property tax rate prevent larger tax hikes like the 32% increase seen in 2015.

“Inflation over the past two (fiscal) years has been 5.2%. We have to capture that back, or we’re just behind, and we’ve got to start cutting something,” he said. “We can cut somebody’s job. We can cut snow plowing. We can cut lawn mowing. We can cut all sorts of things. You tell us what you want to cut.”

The proposed 5.2% property tax rate increase has not been approved. The City Council is in the middle of public workshops to discuss and tweak the tentative budget. The first workshop was Wednesday night, with the next at 6 p.m. on Friday and a third at 9 a.m. on Saturday, if necessary.

City Councilor Yvonne Barney said she was not in favor of raising property taxes 5.2% and hoped to lower or eliminate that increase during the workshops.

“I feel that, for the citizens of Heber City, who are obviously tightening their purse strings, that before we ask for any type of increase, that we need to maybe cut our budget and do what we can first,” she said.

The city was required to publicize the potential increase in the property tax rate by House Bill 236: Truth in Taxation Amendments, which passed during the 2026 legislative session.

Now, municipalities are required to notify the public if they are considering increasing the property tax rate when the finance director presents the tentative budget to the governing body. Previously, that notice was only required before the public meeting when the final budget was adopted.

Nagel explained that the bill reflects the state’s desire to increase transparency and public engagement when property taxes are raised.

“(The state has said), ‘We don’t want you to adopt a tentative budget, and then two months later, the answers are kind of already baked in,’” Nagel explained. “Citizens have said, ‘This doesn’t feel very authentic to me. It feels like you’ve already made that decision, and you’re not giving us a chance to really weigh in on it.’” 

Heber City will hold a public hearing about the tentative budget for fiscal year 2027 on June 2. 

If the city does not raise property taxes, it can approve the budget during the June 16 meeting.

If the city does raise property taxes, it would delay formal budget adoption until August to meet the state’s Truth in Taxation requirements, which include a public hearing on the property tax rate increase. In that case, the city would operate under the tentative budget between July 1 and the final budget adoption the next month.

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Mohamed “Moe” Mohamed didn’t think the cryptocurrency ATM installed in his Heber City convenience store, Mountainland One Stop, about a year ago would cause so much trouble. He knew Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were gaining traction, so he thought nothing of signing a three-year contract to keep the machine in his store.

But Mohamed began to notice an influx of people, many elderly, visiting the store to use it as soon as it was installed. Many came with cash in hand, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, to deposit. 

Mohamed asked these customers what they were doing, and he quickly realized they were being scammed. Unable to get out of his contract, Mohamed implemented a store policy: keep customers away from the machine at all costs.

The Heber City Council gave Mohamed a way out of his contract when it passed an ordinance prohibiting cryptocurrency ATMs on April 7. The operator of the cryptocurrency ATM has 60 days from the passing of the ordinance to uninstall the machine, which is the only one in Heber City.

Police Chief Parker Sever suggested the ban after hearing a presentation about cryptocurrency fraud from the Utah Attorney General’s Office a few months ago and having subsequent conversations with Mohamed.

“There was no intent on the part of One Stop to commit any fraud or to hurt anybody. In fact, they’re actively trying to do the opposite,” Sever said. “When they put that machine in there, they thought it was for a legitimate purpose, as I probably would have at the time, too.”

Cryptocurrency ATMs charge transaction fees ranging from 20% to 40%, while other online methods charge much lower fees, according to a city staff report. Additionally, these machines have minimal oversight and regulatory control, making them popular for fraud and other criminal activity.

Utah Criminal Deputy Attorney General Stewart Young said scammers from other countries often use cryptocurrency ATMs to transfer money across borders. That also makes them popular tools for money launderers.

Fraud involving these machines often involves the scammer convincing the victim to deposit money into the scammer’s account, Young explained. 

Persuasion can take a variety of forms.

For example, “pig-slaughtering” scams involve the scammer targeting a victim online and fattening them up through romance and affection before bleeding them dry.

“The scammer will invariably pretend to be an oil worker working on an oil rig in the Pacific Ocean or something like that,” Young said. “They’ll develop a romance online, and eventually, at some point, they’ll come up with some reason that they need money. It might be, ‘I really want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I can’t get off this oil rig. I want to start my own oil drilling business … and then we can be together forever.’”

Other scammers impersonate law enforcement officials and threaten legal consequences for missing jury duty or not paying a traffic ticket, all while insisting that the situation can be resolved by depositing money at a cryptocurrency ATM.

Another common scheme creates the illusion of investment. After the victim deposits money using a virtual currency kiosk, the scammer will deposit some of their own money into the account to make it look as if the victim’s investment is earning interest, Young explained. The scammer will convince the victim to deposit larger and larger amounts before withdrawing the money and shutting down the account.

Young estimated more than 90% of cryptocurrency ATM transactions are related to fraud or other criminal activity. 

That’s one reason the Utah House of Representatives passed House Bill 72 during the recent 2026 legislative session. The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Ryan D. Wilcox, who represents Weber County, creates statewide restrictions on cryptocurrency ATMs.

The bill requires operators of cryptocurrency ATMs to display a fraud prevention warning in English and Spanish and provide a toll-free, 24/7 customer service line. The machines also must print receipts, including transaction information and the relevant state law enforcement or government agency for reporting fraud.

The bill also makes it illegal for a cryptocurrency ATM to accept transactions over a certain amount. The machine cannot accept more than $2,000 per day during the three days following the customer’s first virtual currency kiosk transaction. After that period, the machine cannot accept more than $5,000 from a single customer per day.

These provisions go into effect on Wednesday.

Starting July 1, local law enforcement agencies are required to have at least one officer undergo specialized cryptocurrency investigation training at least once every three years.

Some cities have banned cryptocurrency ATMs altogether. Layton was the first city in Utah to do so, which it did in March. Heber City was the second and modeled its ordinance on Layton’s.

Two states, Indiana and Tennessee, have passed legislation banning cryptocurrency ATMs. Both states’ respective governors signed bills during this year’s legislative session. 

Undersheriff Josh Probst said there are no other cryptocurrency ATMs the Sheriff’s Office is aware of in Wasatch County.

In Summit County, Park City Police Department Lt. Danielle Snelson and Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Skyler Talbot said they were only aware of one cryptocurrency ATM, located at Top Stop Chevron on the side of S.R. 224. They were unaware of plans to propose any bans. Snelson said no issues with the machine had been reported to the Police Department. 

Mohamed feels “terrible” that the cryptocurrency ATM was ever installed in Mountainland One Stop and is grateful for Heber City’s ban.

“It’s been the worst thing I’ve ever put in a business, and I’ve owned my own business for 22 years,” he said. “I would advise every city, every county and state to ban these.”

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When Gov. Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 127 into law in 2022, Utah set a goal: to have 70% of third graders statewide reach proficiency on the state-administered Acadience reading assessment by July 1, 2027.

Sixteen months before the deadline, a study by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute showed the Park City School District was the only school district in the state to meet the goal in 2025, with 70.1% of students proficient. Meanwhile, the Wasatch County School District ranked 30 out of 41 public school districts, with less than 50% of third graders proficient. 

But those statistics are no longer accurate because a new law changes how the state defines reading proficiency. 

When the institute performed the study, the state defined reading on grade level as scoring above the benchmark on the Acadience reading assessment. Therefore, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s data only included “blue” Acadience scores. 

“The way Acadience works is you get a certain score, and then you’re either a blue, which means you’re above grade level; you’re a green, which is on grade level; you’re a yellow, just below grade level; (or) a red, which are the kids we’re really concerned about,” explained Superintendent Garrick Peterson. 

Sixty-nine percent of Wasatch County School District third graders received a blue or green score on the Acadience assessment in 2025, according to Stacey Moore, the district’s chief of staff.

The state’s definition of reading proficiency changed to include both blue and green scores, those above and at grade level, after Cox signed S.B. 241 into law last week.

The law also supplants the old third-grade literacy goal for Utah: instead of 70% of third graders reading on grade level by July 1, 2027, the law shifts the goal to 80% by July 1, 2030. 

Republican Sen. Ann Millner, who represents Davis, Morgan and Weber counties, introduced the bill during the legislative session. 

The third grade is the only grade in which students take two reading assessments: the Acadience reading test, which is administered in kindergarten through grade three, then optionally grades four to six, and the RISE assessment, which stands for Readiness Improvement Success Empowerment, the state-administered test that students take grades three through eight each year.

Acadience focuses on fluency and accuracy, the speed at which students read the text and whether they make mistakes in reading it, while RISE focuses on comprehension, students’ understanding of the text. 

“That RISE test is supposed to mirror what a kid should be able to do if they were college-ready for their grade level,” Peterson explained. 

He said RISE is more rigorous than Acadience, so the district focuses on RISE scores when measuring reading proficiency.

“In our district, we choose, especially after first grade, to really focus on comprehension, … because that’s the end game with reading. Can I read the comprehended text and make sense of it, use it for different purposes?” he added.

The reason for the state’s change in definition for reading proficiency is that S.B. 241 creates a requirement to hold back third graders not reading on grade level, “except in cases of certain good cause exemptions.” In lower grades, retention must be considered but is not required.

Peterson provided examples of good-cause exemptions, including students with learning disabilities, English language learners and students who are making “great growth toward being on grade level.” 

“(The bill) is asking us to really take into account each kid and what’s best for them, and to consider that retention piece as a tool that can be used,” he said.

Peterson said holding a student back can be detrimental socially, but that reading proficiency is an equally important component of a child’s development. 

He added that the decision to hold back a student comes down to both the school and the students’ parents or guardians.

During a school board study session on Feb. 24, before S.B. 241 had passed, board member Brad Ehlert expressed reservations about retention.

“My son was held back in first grade. It was the worst decision we made as parents, and it affected him. He was not an IEP kid, and he became one because of that. That’s a problem,” he said. “The idea that we’re moving the majority of the group forward at the expense of some does not seem to be appropriate. If the goal is to collectively move as many people forward as we can, having a threat over somebody’s head is not how you do that.”

School Board President Kim Dickerson agreed. 

Peterson’s view is that retention will not occur as long as the school district can meet the challenges set by S.B. 241.

“We need to accept responsibility to get that individual reading plan in place and show progress, period. That’s on us. And so, if we do that, then no one should be held back,” he said. “Our principals know where this is. They know the challenges ahead. It is a hefty one. We’d always talk when we do work around this, that we’re messing with kids’ lives. If we can get them on grade level, then all the options of life are opened up to them. We build their confidence.” 

There’s now a flip side to that, Peterson said. 

“If you can’t do that, you could destroy that kid’s life forever.”

S.B. 241 takes effect July 1. Andrea Brandley, senior education analyst with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, noted that the institute will likely release a follow-up publication in the next few months to incorporate the state’s new definition of reading proficiency.

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Valeria Cruz, the assistant manager of the Christian Center of Park City’s Heber City food pantry, doesn’t consider herself a very political person. 

“I get to sit here and watch the world play out totally differently than what the media tells me to believe. And it’s watching our community respond quickly and bring donations and be here and serve the community as volunteers. That’s what I get to see,” she said. 

Despite her apolitical nature, Cruz watched the Utah legislative session with interest after several of the food pantry’s volunteers notified her of House Bill 88, introduced by Republican Rep. Trevor Lee, who represents Davis County.

The bill would have required those above the age of 18 to verify their immigration status to receive public benefits, including non-emergency medical health care, food assistance and tuition assistance. 

After receiving pushback from some Republican representatives, the bill died when the legislative session ended on Friday.

That afternoon, Cruz shared some of her concerns about how the bill could have impacted the Christian Center of Park City’s food pantries in Summit and Wasatch counties.

During the government shutdown in October and November, the state allocated up to $4 million to Utah Food Bank, a portion of which was distributed to the Christian Center of Park City’s food pantries. 

Cruz believed requiring verification of citizenship status to receive public benefits would have had adverse consequences for the pantry and its patrons, both documented and undocumented.

“It would affect the way we have been able to respond to crisis, like … when the government shutdowns happened, when COVID happened. When we don’t have to require so much of you, when we don’t have to send you back to bring proof of who you are and where you were born and stuff, that keeps the flow going, and it allows us to respond in times of crisis,” she said. 

She added, “Not only does it limit how fast we can serve you, it also could have the potential for us tracking more of your information: who’s coming in, who’s going out, who received what.”

Cruz said many patrons value their privacy and the fact that the food pantry does not ask many questions of them. She believed some patrons, not just undocumented immigrants, would have stopped coming to the food pantry if H.B. 88 had passed.

Since child nutrition services would not have required citizenship verification under H.B. 88, it would not have impacted Christian Center initiatives like the backpack program.

The program sends food insecure students, identified by school counselors and teachers, home every other Friday with a backpack full of food. The program operates throughout the school year and distributes 600 to 640 bags of food every other week in the Wasatch County School District and 500 bags every other week in the Park City School District.

But Cruz believed children whose parents were unable or unwilling to receive food assistance would have been impacted by H.B. 88. 

“I don’t think children should suffer hunger based on who their parents are or where they came from, if we can avoid that” she said.

Even without H.B. 88, Cruz said some Latino families with members who are undocumented or in the process of becoming citizens are not coming through the food pantry’s doors as frequently due to fears about immigration enforcement.

Cruz has seen heightened tension around the issue has come to Summit and Wasatch counties in other ways. She heard from a patron of the food pantry that, when the patron had made a complaint about their work schedule to their employer, they were accused of being undocumented, despite the fact that she is not. Cruz did not know the name of the employer but said that they were based in Park City.

“Everything that is going on in the country will kind of affect our small community,” Cruz said. “I think it is limiting who feels comfortable coming through our doors, and not necessarily because of the Christian Center because I think we have always made it a safe place for anyone and everyone to be and come in and be served.”

Cruz hopes that atmosphere never has to change.

“I think I can speak for 99% of the people that walk through those doors. They honestly don’t want to be here. They don’t want their children to have to be here. They don’t want to have to receive this food,” she said. “What we want to do is continue to be here and serve those that come through our door, so that regardless of what’s going on, you know you have a neighbor that loves on you and wants you and your children to thrive and our community to thrive.”

The post Wasatch Back food pantry breathes sigh of relief as citizenship verification bill dies appeared first on Park Record.

With a little more than two weeks left in the Utah Legislative session, Heber City Manager Matt Brower appeared before the City Council last Tuesday to provide an update on a handful of bills the city is tracking, including three bills that would have implications on city property taxes. 

The first of these bills is Senate Bill 97, sponsored by Republican Sen. Daniel McCay, who represents Salt Lake County. 

The bill would disallow taxing entities to deposit property tax revenue into a reserve fund for capital improvement projects. 

Brower said Heber City has done so in the past to pay for projects like Heritage Farms Parkway, the road that connects U.S. 40 north of Heber City to Center Street. 

The bill would also prohibit a taxing entity from budgeting an amount of ad valorem tax revenue that exceeds 5% of last year’s property tax budgeted revenue. 

Ad valorem taxes, including sales and property taxes, are those calculated based on the assessed value of a transaction or property.

Essentially, S.B. 97 would place a 5% cap on how much a city can raise its property tax rate annually.

According to Brower, Heber City has increased its property tax rate five times in the last two decades: a 4.1% increase in 2011, 32.3% in 2015, 10% in 2022, 8% in 2024 and 9.3% in 2025. 

“If this bill passes with the existing language, you would see that none of those increases other than in 2011 would have been permissible,” he said.

Brower later explained that if the bill passed, Heber City would have to consider making “smaller, more frequent changes to the property tax rate, perhaps even annual increases to offset inflationary impacts to the general fund budget.”

Heber City Public Information Officer Ryan Bunnell explained the 32.3% property tax increase in 2015 was a result of the city not raising its property tax rate on a regular basis.

“City Council learned this lesson during that period and has committed to never letting that happen again,” he said. 

In Bunnell’s opinion, “If you keep your budget in check, then there should be no reasonable need to increase more than 5% annually.”

Although Heber City raised its property tax rate by more than 5% in both 2024 and 2025, Bunnell said that “Heber City runs a tight ship and maintains a balanced budget, so I don’t think we have much to worry about.”

Midway is also watching S.B. 97. City Planner Katie Villani said that Midway does not frequently raise taxes and, if approved, Midway may have to raise taxes in small increments like Heber City would. 

“It’s basically going to work against small cities and places who don’t routinely raise their taxes, and I think the result would be that people would go through truth in taxation more frequently, and maybe have smaller increases more frequently,” she said.

Brower said S.B. 97 is one of many bills the state Legislature is looking at in response to growing pressure to restrict local governments’ ability to approve large property tax increases. 

“There is, quite frankly, a national emphasis to do away with property tax,” he added, pointing to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political platform of reducing property taxes, as an example. 

Heber City is also tracking two bills that would change the timelines of tax increase notifications. 

Typically, Heber City begins its budget process by identifying priorities for the upcoming fiscal year during the annual City Council retreat in January. Then, staff prepares a budget and presents it to the City Council in a series of budget workshops held in late April and early May. Heber City holds a public hearing for the budget in early June, with the budget adopted later that month.

House Bill 365, sponsored by Republican Rep. Thomas Peterson, who represents Box Elder and Cache counties, would require taxing entities to provide public notice of their intent to increase a certified tax rate on or by April 1. The notice would also be required to include the approximate dollar amount of ad valorem tax revenue the city would gain as a result of the increase and the revenue’s purpose. 

Because Heber City does not finalize the decision to increase the certified tax rate until early June, Brower compared the April 1 deadline to “putting the cart before the horse.”

Meanwhile, H.B. 236, sponsored by Republican Rep. Karen Peterson, who represents Davis County, would move that notification window to May 1 through June 8. Notably, the bill would also require taxing entities intending to raise a certified tax rate to create two budgets for the upcoming fiscal year by June 30. One budget would include the tax revenue that would result from the increase, while the other budget would not.

Brower said creating two budgets instead of one would “increase the work exponentially for (city) staff.”

Heber City’s lobbyist is Dave Stewart, and representatives from the city are attending Utah League of Cities and Towns Legislative Policy Committee meetings to monitor and lobby for or against bills that would impact Heber City, Brower explained. 

The general Legislative session ends on March 6.

The post Heber City officials eye bills that could impact property tax rate increases appeared first on Park Record.

The recreation district will soon provide disabled veterans with a free 10-punch pass to use the Fieldhouse and attend fitness classes. The discount was approved at the April 20 board meeting following a public hearing.

A 2016 piece of legislation that provides free admission to state parks for certain disabled veterans inspired the discount, according to Aaron Newman, Basin board member. Newman is a former employee of the National Ability Center and worked as a legislative liaison for the organization during the general session.

Newman said the measure “fit perfectly” with what the National Ability Center’s mission is and decided to introduce the concept to fellow board members.

“It was the perfect time as we were looking at our rates and adjusting the range of what we could,” Newman said. “Was one of those things my grandpa was a veteran and I just saw what an incredible role recreation plays in the recovery process I saw this as a way that Basin Rec can really be out there and help with that individual recreation for wounded veterans

The legislation, HB 135, required the state Board of Parks and Recreation to make rules granting free admission to state parks to an honorably discharged veteran who is a state resident and at least 50 percent disabled, as determined by documentation from the United States Department of veterans Affairs and an active or reserve component of the military.

“The important thing here is that it will not be the Basin Recreation staff who will be determining if a veteran is disabled,” Newman said. “We didn’t want to put someone in the uncomfortable situation of having to determine that so instead we will base it off the language in the bill.”

The Recreation District currently offers a military discount on regular passes, according to Matt Strader, the Fieldhouse and Facilities manager. The punch pass for disabled veterans will be an addition to that.

Strader said the punch will be immediately available for purchase. Other passes for the general public will be affected by the new fee schedule, which will be rolled out in August, he said.

“We figured since we are government entity, we could offer something like that as well for our disabled veterans,” Strader said. “We definitely have some local military that take advantage of our discount and we just wanted to expand that even more.”

For more information about programs and Fieldhouse passes, go to http://basinrecreation.org/index.html.

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