A St. George Police Department vehicle sits parked outside the Emergency Room at Intermountain Healthcare's St. George Regional Hospital Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. The St. George City Council will consider raising property taxes to bolster public safety spending at an Aug. 18, 2022 meeting.the last time St. George hiked its property taxes.ballooned from about 28,000 to just under 100,000Given inflation and the area’s rapid growth, St.
If adopted by the City Council, that bite would cost the owner of an average $566,000 home about $5 a month, or $60 per year. The increase is part of a five-year plan to fund the addition of 46 police officers and 22 civilians to the police department and 34 firefighters and two civilians to the fire department, an effort the city has named “Safe St. George.
To lessen the sticker shock, city officials are proposing to raise the property taxes in two or three increments. The first installment, which council members will consider at an Aug. 18 public hearing, would generate $4.6 million per year in additional revenue for public safety. If the economy tanks or the city’s revenue stream from other sources increases sufficiently, Larkin and other city officials say they would likely forgo any future property tax hikes. In the meantime, the city is asking for the bare minimum.
The department has also had to scale back on parking enforcement, abandoned car removal and bike patrols in high-density areas, according to the police chief. And when the department receives several priority calls on weekends, he and others often have to ask police in neighboring cities for assistance.
It’s time. St George has been behind the curve for decades. When you lose good officers to departments in Northern Utah simply because you can’t pay them enough, it’s time to look in the mirror and find a solution.
I'm sure the city council members and mayors for the last 35 years have been patting themselves on the back for not raising property taxes, while ignoring the growing need.
somehow politicians never consider downsizing and cutting costs … such as a whole meaningless department. just raise taxes on inflated property values. endless cycle. no such thing as affordable housing.