Weber County, sewer and fire district tax hikes will boost bills by 8.13%
With the approval of tax hikes for 2022 by Weber County, the Central Weber Sewer Improvement District and the Weber Fire District, affected property owners will see an estimated 8.13% increase next year in the property taxes they pay the three entities.
For the owner of a home worth $400,000 who lives in the boundaries of the three taxing units, the estimated bill for 2022 will total $924.44, up from $854.92 for 2021. That figure — subject to fine-tuning next year after new property valuations are figured — doesn’t include municipal, school and other property taxes.
The owner of a $300,000 home will see taxes rise from $641.20 for 2021 to $693.34, based on the tentative new tax rates for the county, sewer district and fire district.
The sewer district board of trustees on Monday approved the entity’s 2022 budget with the proposed 19.28% tax hike following a public hearing on the matter. Weber County commissioners and the Weber Fire District board of trustees approved tax hikes of 4.5% and 9.96%, respectively, for next year in separate meetings on Dec. 14.
The sewer district hike was spurred in large part by some $100 million in upgrades required by federal and state environmental authorities to its sewage treatment facilities, which serve the vast majority of the county’s population. The existing facilities, located in Marriott-Slaterville, date to the 1950s and the improvements are to be implemented over the coming five years or so, according to Kevin Hall, general manager of the sewer district.
A handful of people attended Monday’s hearing, Hall said, but he didn’t sense overwhelming opposition among any of them. The hike will boost property collections from $8.42 million for 2021 to around $10.04 million for 2022, not including extra revenue stemming from new growth. “They were concerned. They expressed their concerns,” he said.
The sewer district’s 2022 budget calls for $49.36 million in spending, with additional revenue to come from fees paid by client cities.
The county’s 4.5% tax hike — applicable to property owners across the county — is to generate extra funding to maintain the five Weber County Library System facilities and to help cover the cost of flood-control improvements. It’ll boost county property tax collections from $51.2 million to $53.3 million, not factoring new growth.
The Weber Fire District tax hike is meant, in part, to help bolster district personnel and to boost pay to aid with employee retention, a pressing issue among many public safety agencies statewide and beyond. The increase would boost 2021 collections of $8.53 million by around $850,000 to around $9.38 million. The fire district hike would apply on property in its coverage area — the unincorporated parts of Weber County and Farr West, Hooper, Huntsville, Marriott-Slaterville, West Haven and Uintah.
Affected property owners won’t see the varied hikes until they get their bills for 2022 next fall. But a series of property tax hikes approved by several other cities earlier this year have already gone in effect and were included on 2021 bills that came due on Nov. 30.
The other tax hikes and the increases were in North Ogden, up 15.5%; Pleasant View, up around 5%; South Ogden, up 9.96%; and Washington Terrace, up 34.3%. Officials from the North View Fire District, which serves Harrisville, North Ogden and Pleasant View, boosted taxes by 15.5%.
The cities and North View Fire District craft budgets based on a fiscal year that goes from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the next year. Hence, their deliberations for the 2021-2022 year occurred earlier.
Weber County, the Weber Fire District and the sewer district operate on calendar years going from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, thus their tax deliberations for 2022 occurred later.
Here’s the breakdown on the estimated impact to affected homeowners of the tax hikes approved by the sewer district, Weber County and Weber Fire District:
- The owner of a $300,000 home will see county taxes go from $356.73 in 2021 to $372.74 in 2022. Sewer district taxes will go from $83 to $99 while fire district taxes will go from $201.47 to $221.60. The collective bill to the three entities will go from $641.20 to $693.34.
- The owner of a $400,000 home will see county taxes go from $475.64 to $496.98. Sewer district taxes will go from $110.66 to $132 while fire district taxes will go from $268.62 to $295.46. The bill to the three entities will go from $854.92 to $924.44.