On Feb 11th, the City Council gathered in the basement of the City Building to begin a 2-day, 11-hour meeting to discuss the budget.
At this meeting, Benjamin Reeves, the City Manager, reported that the City has collected the following amounts in taxes and fees in the last six months of 2021:
Property Tax: $0.897 Million
Sales Tax: $1.212 Million
Utilities Fees: $2.670 Million
Impact Fees: $3.740 Million
This totals to: $8.609 Million
If these amounts are reflected again in the first 6 months of 2022 then income from these sources will far exceed the previous years.
According to the 2021-2022 budget which was passed in 2021, in the entirety of July/2020 through June/2021, the following taxes and fees were collected:
Property Tax: $1.007 Million
Sales Tax: $1.647 Million
Utilities Fees: $4.695 Million
Impact Fees: $1.193 Million
This totals to: $8.542 Million
Wait! You might say… How is it that the City has already collected more in 6 months than in the previous fiscal year?
The answer to that question is that several factors affect those amounts, but rest assured, hardly any of the answer is that the rates or taxes went up.
Yes, there was a 1.2% increase in utility fees due to the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) from year to year, but it’s a negligible amount.
The real causes of increased income are:
1) an increase in residents.
2) an increase in land value
3) an increase in product sold in Santaquin
4) an increase in prices, and
5) an increase in development.
Santaquin’s population has grown by nearly 10% and the land values have skyrocketed, causing the property taxes to go up.
Macey’s, the new grocery store in town, has boosted sales tax, and more residents means more patrons.
As inflation and supply chain issues plague local stores, prices rise. This also raises the amounts that are subject to sales taxes.
But what is causing the biggest change of all: What are Impact Fees? Impact Fees are fees paid by Developers when they build. Inevitably, these fees are passed on to the new residents when they purchase the house. So, it’s like they’re buying a share of the city when they buy their house.