Heber City resident Keaton Hansen nervously checks his bank account every time he gets groceries at Walmart. He has five kids, aged 2 to 12, and said he can’t afford daycare. He drives a car manufactured in 2003. Despite working as a nurse at Intermountain Health Heber Valley Hospital and having two side hustles, he’s “drowning” in bills to the point of “depression.”

So, when Hansen heard the Heber City Council is considering a 4.8% property tax increase, he knew he had to voice his dissent. City Finance Director Sara Nagel provided context to the tax increase at a Heber City Council public hearing on Wednesday, explaining that a home valued at $850,000 would pay an additional $16.83 — about the price of a burrito meal at a restaurant. 

“I’m not getting $16 burritos. I’m getting PB&J’s,” Hansen told the City Council. “It really is that dramatic. … We’re dying out there.”

Heber City’s proposed tax increase would generate an additional $174,000 for its general fund during fiscal year 2027, which began July 1. The general fund supports administration, public safety, planning and general operations. 

Nagel said the proposed increase is intended to keep up with inflation and maintain the current level of service. She added that the city is essentially asking for more property tax revenue to maintain its current purchasing power.

The city’s yearly budget is built by Nagel and City Manager Matt Brower from the ground up every year. That means every department must request and justify every dollar they plan to spend.

“We’re not asking for frosting here, and we’ve already achieved that by saying no to many (department requests),” Nagel said. 

But residents who attended the public hearing said they were more than happy with the city cutting back on spending to lessen or eliminate the tax increase. 

Rick Anderton suggested the city “DOGE” its overall budget, referring to the cost-cutting federal agency led by Elon Musk that dissolved last month.

Several residents said they would be more than happy to sacrifice spending on downtown revitalization projects like the Main Street Park redesign and the pedestrian-only alleyway, C Street. Part of the purpose of these projects is to draw in tourists and bolster the local economy, but they also come with price tags as high as $15 to 18 million, in the park’s case. 

“You don’t need extravagance. We don’t need luxury. Let’s get back to basics,” Hansen said.

Nagel clarified that the general fund does not directly funnel into these projects and that they instead have indirect fiscal impacts, like staff time spent working on them. In the park’s case, the only city funding will be Trails, Arts and Park tax revenue and impact fees, one-time fees paid by developers.

A trip to Folsom, California, that Brower and several city councilors are taking next month became a subject of ire from many of the residents who packed the room. The one-day trip, Brower explained, will allow them to meet with Folsom elected officials, learn how they operate the city and bring the insights back home. City officials went on a similar trip to three cities in Colorado two years ago. Funding for the trip will come from the general fund, according to Nagel.

Wasatch County Republican Party Vice Chair Patty Sprunt suggested Heber City and Folsom officials meet virtually instead, given the current economy.

Sprunt recalled a conversation she’d had with a financially struggling resident who called his taxes “death by a thousand cuts.” She added that she moved from California to Utah for the lower taxes. She’s concerned by Heber City’s trajectory of more frequent tax rate increases. 

Heber City has increased its property tax rate five times in the past 30 years. Three of those increases were in the past five years, the most recent being a 9.3% increase in 2024.

Nagel said several cities are moving toward smaller, more frequent tax increases to avoid larger, infrequent increases like the 32.3% increase Heber City experienced in 2015.

“When city councils delay property taxes to the point of a crisis, and then they have to, it creates headlines,” she said. “No government agency wants to be a headline.”

Former Heber City Councilor Scott Phillips, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor last fall, agreed. He was the only commenter in favor of the increase.

“These nominal increases are important so that we don’t have to have a 50, 60, 70% increase in one year,” he said. 

But for Mayor Heidi Franco, that wasn’t a good enough justification. She pointed out that everyone is facing inflation, and that the city could cut costs to avoid placing further burden on residents. 

“We can defer some vehicle purchases to more than make up this deficit,” she said. “To me, making sure that you are able to pay your bills and be able to take care of your own situations is just as important as the city being able to pay its bills.”

It will be the City Council, not Franco, that votes on the proposed tax rate increase, scheduled for Aug. 18. None of the councilors shared how they plan to vote. 

However, City Councilor Yvonne Barney said she felt “angry and frustrated,” just as many other residents did. She said most of her family cannot afford to live in Heber City and recalled her mother never buying anything she asked for as a kid, even if it was only 10 cents.

“For a single mother raising a child in Arizona, who was renting all the time, it was too much,” Barney said. “It is hard, and we need to recognize that just nickels and dimes really do affect the budget.”

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Heber City Councilor Yvonne Barney recently qualified for Social Security.

“I know most of you don’t believe that I’m that old, but it’s true,” she said, which was met with laughter during the Heber City Council meeting Tuesday. “But I qualified and received the amount that I would have to exist on. And let me just say, I would be living on the streets. … It was absolutely horrible, and I’m so grateful that I have a wonderful husband who still likes me and is willing to help me out.”

The bleak fiscal situation of many of Heber City’s seniors is exactly why Mayor Heidi Franco has devised a property tax abatement program for them. If passed by the City Council, the program would begin in January.

Franco began her pitch with some statistics. Heber City’s median household income is about $110,000, according to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau data. In 2010, the median income in Heber City households was almost half of that — about $56,000. 

“I think many of our seniors bought or built their homes before that time period,” Franco said. “That was the economic standard in our city. We were not a high-income city. Now, it’s really increased, and we believe it’s only going to continue to increase.”

Local utility rates have risen as much as 36% since 2025, Franco said. The city is also considering a 5.2% property tax rate increase, which the City Council will vote on following a public hearing on Aug. 5. 

Factored in with rising property values in Heber City and nationwide inflation, it’s clear to Franco that seniors are facing a “ginormous need” for relief.

“We have senior citizens that are stuck between when they bought their houses 20, 30, 40 years ago and … the incredible inflation that’s happened,” she said.

Franco’s proposed tax abatement program would distribute lump sum payments to qualifying seniors. These funds would provide relief for seniors’ city and county property taxes from the prior year.

Seniors would qualify by applying for Wasatch County’s two existing low-income tax abatement programs, which are available to residents 66 and older. 

The county in January will share the list of qualifying Heber City seniors with city staff. The city will then distribute funds for its own tax abatement program to those who qualified for the county programs by the end of February. 

One of the county’s tax abatement programs is available to seniors whose annual household income is less than $44,221, and the other is for those making between that amount and $65,534. Franco tentatively plans to distribute $700 to each Heber City senior who qualifies for the former program, and $400 to those who qualify for the latter. That’s in addition to any funds applicants may have received from the county.

The funds for Heber City’s program will come from the Upper Jordanelle Ridge development. The developers in March amended their development agreement with Heber City by dedicating $1,500 per residential unit, or $4.5 million, to the city. Developers dedicated the funds as a show of good faith amid ongoing negotiations around the project’s open space, trails, design and layout, explained City Attorney Jeremy Cook.

Franco expects 150 qualified applicants in January, based on the number of citywide applicants last year. She projects the city spending up to $85,500 on the first round of the program in 2027, and up to $165,000 in 2028.

“I don’t think we’re going to need it for years and years and years to come. I think it’s … a short-term economic crunch for longtime citizens that own property in the city,” she said. “But time will tell.”

Although the City Council did not take a vote, all members were receptive to the idea. 

“I know several (seniors) that were my teachers in school … and those tax numbers are crazy compared to what they have coming in for income,” said City Councilor Aaron Cheatwood. “I think it’s a great thing we probably should have done earlier.”

It is not just seniors who own homes who are financially struggling in Heber City. U.S. Census Bureau data shows that 5.3% of city residents are impoverished — or about 3,700 people, according to Franco’s estimates.

“That’s not a number that any of us should be comfortable with,” Franco said.

City Councilor Mike Johnston said he hopes the tax abatement program is only the first step the city takes in helping residents who are financially struggling.

“I want to continue talking together and figuring out, ‘What can we do?’ because I think it’s bigger than just this. I mean, we’re talking about a welfare program, and I’m just as interested in helping people with their food insecurity and … utility rates,” he said.

The City Council will vote on the tax abatement program on Aug. 18. That’ll be less than two weeks following its decision about whether to raise property taxes.

Seniors can apply for Wasatch County’s existing tax abatement programs by visiting tinyurl.com/288bmckx. The county also has programs for residents who are disabled, low-income or veterans.

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Recent passersby on Heber City’s Main Street may have noticed Midway muralist Pamela Flynn perched on a scaffold, painting the side of the Casago building. She’s only there between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. The July heat has been a bit much to handle during the day.

“It’s, like, 105 on that concrete,” Flynn said. “The whole building is black except for the part that I am working on. The other day, I was putting on the primer, and sweat was just pouring off me.”

The odd painting schedule works perfectly fine for Flynn. She’s a night owl who’s typically up that late creating anyway. She paints animals, landscapes and occasionally her husband dressed as a mountain man, coonskin cap and all. 

Flynn’s latest project is Heber City’s newest public art installation. Funded by a $2,850 grant from the city’s Trails, Arts & Parks Tax, the mural’s goal is to “enhance downtown’s visual appeal, strengthen community identity and reinforce Main Street as a creative destination that supports local businesses and community pride,” said Rachel Kahler, executive director of the Community Alliance for Main Street, the nonprofit managing the project.

The mural, 13 feet tall and 31 feet wide, reads “Hello Heber” over a mountain landscape in orange, black and blue tones. Casago owner Jeff Harris hopes the mural serves a similar purpose to the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.

“It’s the first mural you might see when you come into town, almost like that Las Vegas one,” he said. “The whole idea was to get people to stop and take pictures, and then develop more visibility for Heber as a tourist destination.”

Harris manages about 60 vacation rentals in the Heber Valley, which will expand to over 300 when Avari Vacation Rentals acquires the company next month. Casago has operated out of the building on Main Street for the past eight months. 

Harris has visited the Heber Valley since he was a kid. He said it’s always been a tourist destination, but with recent developments like Deer Valley East Village, visitation is booming more than ever.

“In five years, everybody’s going to have heard of Heber. I think the train’s left the station. There’s no turning that back,” he said.

In Harris’ eyes, the “Hello Heber” mural is a way to greet visitors and new residents with open arms.

“When I first moved here in 2020 … I still had a California (license plate). A guy literally accosted me in the (gas station) parking lot. He screamed and yelled at me about moving up here from California, and I wasn’t welcome here, and all this other stuff,” he said. “We want people to feel welcome here.”

Flynn was the ideal candidate to paint Harris’ vision. Her experience stretches back to childhood.

How does a child get permission to paint murals, you might ask?

“Your mom is awesome, that’s how,” Flynn said. “You’re 9, and you go, ‘Mom, can I paint on the walls of my bedroom?’ And your mom goes, ‘All right. It’s just paint.’”

So Flynn painted mermaid habitats, jungles dotted with the glow-in-the-dark eyes of predators and the covers of all her favorite Boston and Van Halen albums on her bedroom walls.

Her current bedroom is painted like a castle with bats fluttering around on the starry ceiling.

Flynn refined her skills while apprenticing under Latter-day Saint artist Linda Curley Christensen for the past decade. Christensen leads a mural-painting team for the church out of a studio in Wallsburg.

“All of these canvases are put up in a barn that’s been converted to a massive studio, and they are on these movable easels. Everything gets gridded. Everything gets put up. It all has to be OK’d first before you can even put it on there,” Flynn said. “Each one of those murals is a two-year project. They’re huge.”

Murals Flynn has worked on have been installed at temples in South Jordan, St. George, Mesa, Arizona and Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

But her favorite murals are the ones she’s painted at home, in the Midway Town Hall, Heber City Public Safety Building and Rocky Mountain Middle School.

“I lost two daughter-in-laws in the past five years. … It really put things in perspective, and it really made me say, ‘What do I want to leave behind when I’m gone?’” Flynn said. “(My husband) is always saying, ‘Honey, you left your mark on this valley.’”

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The imposition of an additional property tax on residents of a new development in Heber City moved one step closer to a vote this week.

The Heber City Council on Tuesday held a public hearing dominated by skepticism from elected officials, city staff and public commenters alike.

D.R. Horton, the developer of The Highlands, a community of 811 homes, townhomes and apartments near the Utah Valley University Wasatch campus, asked to establish three public infrastructure districts, or PIDs. The development is estimated to be completed by the spring of 2028.

The public infrastructure districts would allow the developer to impose a special property tax on owners of the 576 homes and townhomes within The Highlands. The tax revenue would be used to cover more than $22 million of the total $40 million cost of installing public infrastructure, including roads, water, sewer and electrical.

The Highlands homeowners would pay about $500 in taxes for every $100,000 of their home value each year, on top of other property taxes, for an estimated 31 years. That’s how long it would take for the bonds to be paid off.

If the PIDs were not established, the developer said it would need to add $40,000 to the purchase price of its homes and townhomes across the board.

City councilors were unconvinced by D.R. Horton’s initial proposal last month. The developer promised cost savings for homeowners if the PIDs were established but did not have solid numbers to back up its claim.

D.R. Horton provided those numbers on Tuesday. The developer estimates that if the PIDs were established, townhome owners would save nearly $1,400 per year, and homeowners would save over $830 per year because of shifts in the purchase price, plus loan and down payments.

If the PIDs are approved, Heber City would benefit by retaining 5 to 10% of the tax proceeds generated. The City Council floated ideas for using the funds on the Heber Valley Arts Center planned near the development or improving an existing public trail along U.S. 40 or The Highlands’ public park.

Utah Senate District 20 candidate Annette McRae made a public comment acknowledging that the benefits to the city are “appetizing” but distract from issues with PIDs.

She referred to the PIDs as “trading a smaller, upfront cost for a much longer, long-term debt burden paid entirely by the buyer rather than the developer.” She added that she would like to see a more concrete breakdown of specifically how the developer would use the money raised by the PIDs.

City engineer Russ Funk chimed in that he does not like PIDs because they allow developers to build at a lower cost while selling housing at market rate. He appreciated that D.R. Horton had promised a $40,000 purchase price reduction but asked that Heber City enforce it in an agreement to ensure D.R. Horton cannot go back on its word.

But that may not be possible, according to City Attorney Jeremy Cook.

“I think it’d be really hard to try to draft any language where you could enforce a reduction in home prices,” he said. “I just don’t know how you could draft that and make it reasonable.”

City Councilor Mike Johnston did not believe such enforcement was necessary.

“We have to give some credit to citizens, that they’re smart and understand what they’re buying. Every purchase of a property is an at-will transaction that the government should not get involved in,” he said.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on the public infrastructure districts on July 21.

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Developers of The Highlands asked the Heber City Council on June 16 for the authority to impose a special property tax on homeowners, requiring them to cover more than half of the $40 million tab to install public infrastructure, like roads, water, sewer and electrical.

The Highlands is a community of 811 homes, townhomes and apartments near the Utah Valley University Wasatch campus, which broke ground in September 2024 and is estimated to be completed by spring 2028. 

The developer, D.R. Horton, is turning to homeowners for funding because there are no nearby governmental entities, including Heber City, that “consider it desirable, feasible or practical to undertake the planning, design, acquisition, construction, installation, relocation, redevelopment and financing” of the public infrastructure, according to the meeting agenda materials.

Mayor Heidi Franco said that’s because of the area’s unique engineering requirements.

“We have sensitive lands. They’re sloped. They have other needs. Our drainage system, gravity, hydrology, it’s all factoring into extra costs for developing in these areas,” she said.

The Highlands developers are seeking to finance the community’s public infrastructure by creating three public infrastructure districts, also called PIDs. 

PIDs were introduced in Utah in 2019 and allow developers to impose taxes on homeowners within a defined district to fund public infrastructure in the area, rather than having all taxpayers in a municipality pay for it.

The Highlands PIDs would impose annual property taxes on the 576 homes and townhomes within them for 31 years, the estimated time for the bonds to install the infrastructure to be paid off. The 235 apartments would not be included in the PIDs.

These homeowners would pay about $500 in taxes for every $100,000 of their home value annually. In other words, a homeowner with a home valued at $600,000 would pay $3,000 annually, or $93,000 over 31 years, in addition to their other property taxes.

Curtis Leavitt Horton, senior land acquisition manager with D.R. Horton, estimated homes to be priced between $550,000 and $600,000, though exact numbers won’t be determined until August at the earliest. If the PIDs are not approved, developers would instead add $40,000 to each home’s purchase price.

Heber City would retain 5 to 10% of proceeds generated by the tax, as required by the city’s PID policy. The City Council could use the proceeds however it wished.

Max Martin, a development manager with Forestar Group, a subsidiary of the developer, suggested the funds be used on improving infrastructure near The Highlands. 

His ideas included upgrades to the public park within the development or connecting the asphalt trail alongside U.S. 40 between College Way and the Wasatch Commons apartments. Franco also suggested using funding for the Heber Valley Arts Center planned near the development. 

Heber City currently has two PIDs for developments: The Slope and Jordanelle Ridge. Both have the same tax rate as The Highlands and have dedicated 5 and 10% of proceeds to the city, respectively.

City Councilor Sid Ostergaard supported The Highlands PIDs because it would allow the development to be built more quickly. He was especially eager to get The Highlands’ 67 affordable housing units built. 

Eleven of these units would be priced at $218,000 to be affordable to those making 60% of the area median income, which is $81,720 for a family of four. Forty-four units would be priced at $338,000 to be affordable to those making 80% of the area median income, which is $108,960 for a family of four.

City Councilor Yvonne Barney was more skeptical than Ostergaard. She was concerned about the PID’s potential to inundate “penny-pinching” homeowners with extra costs.

Franco agreed.

“It is going to be very expensive for median range income, or even our affordable units that you’re talking about, to be able to pay those property taxes,” she said. 

Barney also referred to a cautionary memo about PIDs that State Auditor Tina M. Cannon released in March, after Wohali, a resort in Coalville with a PID, declared bankruptcy last August. 

Cannon cautioned governments to consider whether they were financially accountable for PIDs. This would mean governments would be responsible for the transparency of PID finances, such as by including PIDs in their financial statements.

That does not mean Heber City, for example, would be liable to pay The Highlands’ bonds for public infrastructure if the development did not go as planned. That would be the responsibility of property owners within the PIDs.

Creation of The Highlands PIDs would require a public hearing and a resolution by the City Council before developers submitted documentation creating the PIDs to the Lt. Governor’s Office.

But those first steps are not yet on track to be completed. 

The developers’ first stumbling block was their lack of defined numbers to compare a homeowner’s property taxes with or without the PIDs.

As previously mentioned, the home prices are not yet finalized. Additionally, the municipal property tax rates the developers referenced when comparing homeowners’ estimated taxes were outdated rates from 2024 and may change again in August, when the City Council will vote on a 5% property tax rate increase.

“I don’t understand why (these PIDs are) needed. The idea of cutting down the cost on the homes does make sense, hypothetically, but the numbers are not real,” Cheatwood said. “Understanding that, over the course of a mortgage, you might actually save money? That’s actually easy to prove and see. So let’s just prove it and see it with real numbers.”

The City Council will discuss the Highlands PIDs further on July 7.

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The Wasatch County School District could increase its general fund by $11 million for the upcoming fiscal year, without raising property taxes.

The general fund includes expenditures for supplies, textbooks, equipment and professional development, but the biggest piece of the pie is salaries and benefits, which make up about $122 million of the nearly $136 million total. 

All categories of general fund will see some increase in fiscal year 2027.

Some new costs include the school district’s addition of a childcare facility in Deer Creek High School for school district employees to use and increased spending on early literacy programs. The majority of the spending increase, $10 million, will go to salaries and benefits, including 4% raises for employees.

“We have nearly 1,200 employees now. Obviously, our most valuable and most costly resource is our people,” said Business Administrator Jason Watt. “The board has prioritized this in recent years as a way to attract and retain high-quality educators.”

The increase also accounts for new hires at Deer Creek High School, which opens in August. 

While most staffing occurred by divvying up existing Wasatch High School staff between the two schools, some roles necessitated hiring externally. For example, it would be impractical to divide one theater teacher between two high schools. 

Watt said the school district hired eight teachers, as well as custodial and maintenance staff, secretaries, an instructional coach, a librarian, an athletic director, a Hispanic liaison, school resource officers and a nurse.

With the new high school also comes increased spending on transportation, maintenance and utilities. None of that will necessitate an increase in property taxes, which make up about two-thirds of the school district’s budget.

“We have been budgeting for this year for some time,” Watt said. “We are really pleased that we are able to cover those additional costs with existing revenues and will not be approaching the public for additional revenues through the truth in taxation process.”

While general fund expenditures are increasing since the previous fiscal year, the school district will spend less money overall this upcoming fiscal year. The school district spent over $250 million in fiscal year 2026, and estimates spending about $193 million in fiscal year 2027.

The primary reason for that decrease is a reduction in capital project spending. The district spent $111 million last fiscal year — largely to construct Deer Creek High School — and will spend $41 million in the upcoming year.

The school board held a public hearing on June 16, during which two school district employees made comments in support of the budget.

Wasatch High School Assistant Principal Drew Camps Wofford expressed her excitement about Deer Creek High School and the new childcare program while holding her toddler, Scout.

“As a parent, (I’m) super stoked to have kids … in a district where you know that they’re doing the right things to take care of our kids while I’m taking care of other people,” she said.

Wasatch High School agricultural science teacher Kody Clyde thanked the school board for its “continued support and confidence in teachers.”

“I can promise that the teachers will continue to take care of the community’s greatest resource, which is, of course, the students. You will continue to see an increase in student academic performance. I can also assure you that Wasatch will continue to be the best district in the state,” he said. “I personally would like to thank you for my job. I feel so lucky to have the greatest career in the greatest community.”

The school board will meet June 29 at 6:30 p.m. to vote on adopting the budget. The meeting will include an opportunity for public comment.

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Timpanogos Valley Theatre President Trudi Harter was on the Wasatch County Arts Council in 2022, when voters were considering approving a 10th of a percent local sales and use tax, called the Trails, Arts and Parks tax. She lobbied for it in any way she could: signage, flyers and conversations. 

Her efforts were successful. Voters approved the tax; it went into effect in 2023; and the first grants for trails, arts and parks projects funded by the revenue were awarded in 2024. 

Wasatch County, Midway and Heber City each have their own grant programs funded by the revenue. The Heber City Council on Tuesday awarded nearly $120,000 to 12 arts-specific projects of the 14 that applied, following the recommendation of an advisory committee. Each project is matched by at least 25% funding.

Timpanogos Valley Theatre received two grants to fund the production costs — including costuming, royalties and advertising — for two plays. 

“Possessive! The Musical!” a family-friendly, pop punk-flavored comedy about demonic possession premiering in American Fork this week, will come to Heber City Sept. 3-5. Timpanogos Valley Theatre received about $5,000 to summon the production. 

“That’s one of the points of our mission statement, is to support new and upcoming playwrights,” Harter said.

Timpanogos Valley Theatre also received a $12,000 sponsorship of “1776: The Musical,” which plays June 24 through July 4 in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 

The funds will be vital in gathering hard-to-find revolutionary period costuming and wigs, which will also be used in the city’s Fourth of July parade, Harter said. The grant will also make it possible to donate 100 tickets to veterans and active military personnel through Black Rifle Coffee Company, she said.

“The grants do help offset that, and then we can all be more generous with everybody, and everybody wins,” she added.

Before the Trails, Arts and Parks tax was passed for Heber, Harter said, “If we received grants, we would get a grant for, like, $1,000 or $1,500.” So the Trails, Arts and Parks tax grants have been a game-changer, she said.

In 2024, the theater received a $20,000 grant from the county to replace the worn-out, nearly two-decade-old plywood stage in its building, which is a historic amusement hall the theater moved into in 2010.

“We thought we could do it ourselves, but in hindsight, no way,” she said. “It’s wonderful to have a new stage that will last us a long time.”

The largest grant given this year was $25,000 to the Wasatch Community Foundation to help install two monuments honoring Timpanogos Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah. That’s in addition to a $10,000 Trails, Arts and Parks grant from the county.

The first, a new grave marker for his son, Tom Tabby, was installed in the Heber City Cemetery earlier this month. 

The second, a statue of Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah created by Wyoming artist Jonathan LaBenne, soon will be installed on the roundabout near the city columbarium. The unveiling was originally scheduled for Memorial Day, but LaBenne had a concussion after falling from a ladder and needs time to recover, explained Wasatch Community Foundation Treasurer Marvin Rust.

The two projects’ overall cost is $50,000, Rust said.

Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah lived through violent conflict between Native American tribes and Latter-day Saint pioneers, including the Black Hawk War from 1865 to 1872. 

Although the church had placed an extermination order on all male Timpanogos in 1850, Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah remained a lifelong advocate for peace, signing a treaty with Heber City Bishop Joseph Stacy Murdock in 1867. 

Rust spearheaded the project because he was passionate about “do(ing) more to honor the Indigenous people that were here in this valley” and to acknowledge that “this was theirs first.” He has been in conversation with some of Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah’s descendents and got their consent before going ahead with the projects.

Heber City’s nearly $120,000 grant funding in arts projects is nearly double what was allotted. Heber City typically uses 10% of its total Trails, Arts and Parks revenue — this year, $66,000 — for arts grants.

The city had also already planned on spending some Trails, Arts and Parks revenue on some projects, like the Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah statue, regardless of whether a grant was submitted. That’s why the City Council agreed to fund all 12 projects and figure out where each falls under the umbrella later.

Additionally, the City Council unanimously approved to increase funding of the arts grants program from 10% of the city’s total Trails, Arts and Parks tax revenue to 15% in its next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

“We made this arbitrary decision to give 10% to the arts as Heber City. There was no objectivity in that. It was a lowball, conservative, safe percentage. ‘We’ll throw 10% at the arts, and then we get to distribute the other 90%.’ I always thought that was too chintzy,” said City Councilor Mike Johnston, adding that he is not a creative person himself but appreciates the value arts adds to a community.

City Councilor Morgan Murdock agreed.

“Arts can change lives, and it’s had a really big impact on my family. Every single one of my children has performed on these stages and helped out backstage,” he began, choking up. “I love parks. I love trails. But arts is important. It’s powerful.”

Here are the 12 projects that received funds, totaling $119,774.

• Wasatch Community Foundation’s Chief Tabby-To-Kwanah Statue: $25,000
• Community Alliance for Main Street’s Music on Main: $19,612
• Main Street Entertainment’s Heber Tourist Shows: $17,000
• Red, White & Blue Festival’s Free Community Music Programming: $12,000
• Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s “1776: The Musical”: $12,000
• Wasatch County Senior Center’s Senior Arts Project Classes: $7,387.50
• Heber City Historic Preservation’s Home Tour Addition: $6,626.20
• Wasatch County Library’s Community Concert Series: $5,100
• Commemorative Air Force Museum’s Signage and Crowd Control: $5,000
• Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s “Possessive! The Musical!”: $4,999
• Community Alliance for Main Street’s Hello Heber Mural: $2,850
• Heber Valley Children’s Choir’s “Sing for America”: $2,200

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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.

The post Heber City intends to increase property taxes by 5% 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.

Ryan Ritchie and Rob Heywood from the Ritchie Group asked Heber City’s Community Reinvestment Agency for the mixed-use development, Station Seven, to be exempt from a total of $20.1 million in property, sales and transient room taxes to the city, county and school district between 2027 and 2056.

The Community Reinvestment Agency board, which is made up of the same members as the Heber City Council, wasn’t convinced when The Ritchie Group first made their proposal on Oct. 21, in part due to confusion about what the space would look like and how Heber City would benefit from the agreement.

But after a second presentation on Nov. 18, three of the five board members changed their tune.

The Community Reinvestment Agency, which allows a municipality to redevelop a blighted area through tax increment financing, was established in 2021 to reinvest in downtown.

The Ritchie Group’s tax exemptions would allow them to spend an additional $8.7 million on development. The funds would be used to build a 730-stall parking garage on the lot, which the developer said it cannot afford without the tax-sharing agreement.

A parking garage, rather than surface parking, would allow for the expansion of retail space and residential units, as well as the addition of a Marriott hotel and a 30,400 square foot public event plaza.

The bigger scope of Station Seven would result in higher revenues, The Ritchie Group argued. That’s in no small part thanks to the addition of the hotel.

According to the developer’s projections, Station Seven would generate a combined $1.3 million in tax revenues to the city, county and school district annually during the 30-year agreement. After the conclusion of the agreement, that number doubles to $2.6 million annually.

If the agreement were not approved, annual revenues to those entities would shrink to just under $2 million indefinitely, with a lower-quality project to boot. 

Community Reinvestment Agency board member Scott Phillips was persuaded, citing the desire for more restaurants and increasing demand for hotels in Wasatch County with the upcoming opening of Deer Valley East Village.

But the location of Station Seven was a sticking point for others.

Station Seven will be built on a lot near the Smith’s grocery store on the northern corridor of Heber City. Notably, the lot is the path of destruction of the Utah Department of Transportation’s Alternative A for the Heber Valley bypass, which is one of two remaining options.

If UDOT chooses Alternative A in January, Station Seven will be forced to downsize, any tax-sharing agreement would be scrapped and The Ritchie Group would go back to the drawing board.

The Ritchie Group’s stance is that going ahead with the tax-sharing agreement could make Alternative A less attractive to UDOT because of the potential tax revenues to the state, city, county and school district that would be on the chopping block.

In the case that UDOT chooses Alternative A for the bypass in early January, Ritchie said, “Our development plans will inevitably change, but our mentality is to press forward until then.”

Furthermore, board members Yvonne Barney and Heidi Franco felt that the development’s distance from central Heber misses the point of why the Community Reinvestment Agency was founded: to reinvest in the older downtown area.

Barney was particularly concerned about gentrification, the process whereby an area becomes more affluent due to an influx of wealthy residents and businesses. Gentrification is criticized for displacing an area’s current residents when the cost of living increases.

“This is going to create a problem where all of the wealth is up there, and we have higher taxes and more stress on individuals in (downtown),” Barney added. 

But Ritchie didn’t seem as concerned. 

“If we do the ‘without’ project, the revenue stream (during the 30-year agreement) is $200,000 (annually) that you can use for ‘re-gentrification’ projects in downtown,” he said. “Or you let us have some incremental participation, and we increase your cash flow to $541,000 (annually during the 30-year agreement).”

The Park Record followed up with Ritchie about his use of the term “re-gentrification” in reference to Heber City’s efforts to revitalize downtown. 

“Gentrification is what I meant to say. Revitalization is a synonym that would have been interchangeable,” Ritchie responded via email. “We share the vision of the city staff and City Council to make downtown a revitalized hub for our beautiful and bustling city. We are happy to contribute to that vision by maximizing the city’s tax revenues.”

Franco, who is a non-voting member of the board, clarified that the city would have to hire an independent consultant to verify The Ritchie Group’s numbers.

“Your numbers look great on paper,” she said. “That’s all it’s worth to me right now. Just paper.”

Franco added that she was concerned about an agreement creating a precedent.

“We have a lot of hotels that have already been approved in annexations, and they are not asking to be subsidized or have an incentive. So, if we give you a subsidy, incentive, then every other hotel that’s already been approved all the way up through North Village or other places is going to come and want the very same thing,” she said.

Barney voiced further concerns that the project would put pressure on public services and funnel more traffic onto Heritage Parkway.

“I don’t think we benefit from this as citizens. You’re asking us to dig in, reach deep into these shallow pockets and hand you more money. And that is unfair,” she said. “When I was campaigning, I kept hearing over and over again, ‘You keep using our hard-earned money for projects that we are not willing to get behind.’ So, as a voice for the citizens…”

Heywood interjected, “Some citizens.” Barney replied, “But those citizens, that majority, voted for me. No. The answer is no.”

But for Community Reinvestment Agency board member Mike Johnston, the answer was yes.

“What you’re asking for is exactly what we’re wanting to do in our downtown, with a parking garage that we would fund and build and take the risk on,” Johnston said. “You’re asking for the same thing, except you’re going to be doing it, and you’re going to be creating the extra, significant property tax, sales tax, TRT tax.”

Johnston made a motion that the Community Reinvestment Agency board support the project. The motion passed 3-2, with Johnston, Phillips and Sid Ostergaard voting yes and Barney and Aaron Cheatwood voting no.

The Ritchie Group’s next steps will be to verify its data with the city and prepare future negotiations with Heber City, Wasatch County and Wasatch County School District to create an interlocal agreement. The developer expects the process to take several months. 

Time will tell what discussions with the county and school district bring. The tax-sharing agreement cannot go ahead without all three parties entering into an interlocal agreement.

Ritchie explained that in most tax-sharing agreements he’s been a part of, the developer finds a sponsor in the city or county before presenting to the other party.

But The Ritchie Group has also presented its idea to the school district, which happened in April. 

“We came away from there feeling like there’s a shot,” Ritchie said. 

That confidence comes from the fact that The Ritchie Group has fine-tuned its tax participation percentages to ensure the school district receives an equal amount of annual tax revenue, whether or not tax increment financing is approved. 

Mere hours before the Community Reinvestment Agency board voted to sponsor the agreement, the school board was meeting less than a half-mile away. At the end of the study session, President Kim Dickerson asked whether the board wanted to make The Ritchie Group’s tax-sharing proposal a priority.

All board members agreed it was not a current priority.

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