October 2025 | Vol. 22 Iss. 10
FREE
See Inside...
Midvale
Voter guide
Grillfest
Metal festival takes over Main Street
Page 4
Learn more about your candidates in the upcoming election Page 14
Midvale increases property taxes to pay for public safety By Giovanni Radtke | g.radtke@mycityjournals.com The tax will add about $67 to the average-priced home’s tax bill.
T
he Midvale City Council unanimously approved a property tax increase to cover rising costs for public safety Aug. 19, despite concerns expressed by some Midvale residents over increased police spending. The public safety tax will raise the tax bill on a home worth $492,000 by $67.38, and raise it to $122.50 for a business property worth the same amount. The city will receive an extra $940,561 in property tax revenue annually from the levy, according to the Public Notice of the proposed tax. The new property tax helps set up the creation of a Public Safety Service Fund. The fund houses expenditures for the fire department’s emergency services, animal control and the city’s membership fee with the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake. The bulk of public safety expenses, 94%, is covered by a transfer from the city’s general fund, according to a Midvale City Council summary report. The city’s rationale for the levy is twofold. First, the yearly increases in public safety spending are becoming a drain on revenue from the general fund. Public safety expenditures made up 45% of the general budget in the 2025 fiscal year. All of the revenue Midvale’s general fund received from property taxes, and over half of the sales tax, was allocated to cover the costs, according to the city manager’s budget message. In addition, separating expenditures into a special revenue fund will also make tax increases for UPD more transparent to the pub-
Midvale’s Unified Police Department precinct. Ninety-nine percent of the property tax increase for public safety will go towards the UPD. (Giovanni Radtke/City Journals)
lic by itemizing expenses on a resident’s tax bill, Administrative Services Director Mariah Hill said in her June 17 presentation of the amended budget to the city council. The property tax hike will pay for the UPD’s budget increase for the 2026 fiscal year, as well as the previous year. Hill’s presentation also noted that Midvale’s police precinct has seen a 97% increase in expenditures over the past 10 years, compared to a 14.5% increase in all other government expenses in the city’s general fund during the same time frame. “The UPD increases are complicated when looking at a 10-year period because that includes the inclusion of resource officers for the homeless shelter, police wage wars, [and] the state-mandated UPD/Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office split,” Hill wrote in an email
Local Postal Customer ECRWSS Scan Here: Interactive online edition with more photos.
to the City Journals. Hill added that the 3.46% budget increase for the UPD this year will be used to cover wage and benefit increases for officers, which makes up 85% of the police budget. The new levy will also pay for increases to “operating costs such as vehicle replacement and maintenance costs, contract increases, [and] ammunition increases.” Overall, the police precinct’s budget amounts to $14.2 million in the 2026 fiscal year. With the rising cost of police spending, Luke Maynes, a Midvale resident, told the council on Aug. 19 that he would prefer the city include a “broad definition of public safety beyond just UPD.” “As much good as the police do for us, I think that a broad approach to public safety is going to be the most cost-effec-
Thank You
to our Community Sponsors for supporting City Journals
tive in the long term,” Maynes said. “And I think I’d be more comfortable with the tax increase if I knew that it was going to help community services beyond just finding and arresting people and actually helping prevent crime in the first place.” Midvale homeowner Doug Wright said the city “was taxing people out of their homes” and questioned the council’s continued approval of funding increases for the UPD. “Why are we going ahead and just paying these bills? Is anyone questioning what we’re paying for?” Wright asked. “I’ve never had a problem with UPD, but from what I understand, the bill keeps going up and up. And some cities have dropped out of UPD because they can’t afford it or don’t see the value in why these costs keep going up.” Councilmember Heidi Robinson said city leaders have looked at alternatives for funding a police force and found remaining in the UPD to be the most cost-effective. “We looked at seeing if it was more beneficial for us to open our own [police department] again, and it was exponentially more expensive,” Robinson said. “Nor could we handle the services. So … we have done the footwork to see what we can do on our city’s end to make this better and keep the services running and improve them.” In 2020, the Midvale City Council was considering withdrawing from the UPD and forming its own police department. The council ultimately decided to remain a member of the larger police agency after a financial feasibility study found a range of “modest savings for Midvale City to moderContinued page 4
Presort Std U.S. Postage PAID Ogden, UT Permit #190