OGDEN — Details of the proposed property tax hike in Ogden are emerging, along with some of the bigger-ticket projects potentially in the works for the coming fiscal year.

The Ogden City Council last week set hearings on the proposed 2023 budget and tax hike for July 12 and Aug. 2, when the public will be able to sound off on the spending plan before officials take final action. According to information provided by the Weber County Clerk/Auditor’s Office, the increase, if approved, would boost property tax collections in Ogden by nearly $3 million, or 18.83%, excluding increases due to new growth.

More specifically, the owner of a home worth $410,000, the median value in Ogden, would see their city property tax bill go from $437.47 to $520. Overall collections, including increases brought on by new development, would go from around $16.4 million to $19.88 million.

City officials say the proposed property tax hike — one of several proposed by taxing entities around Weber County — stems from proposed wage hikes for city employees in the 2023 spending plan. The pay increases are meant to prevent turnover and keep pay here competitive.

That said, there are numerous big-ticket projects in the proposed 2023 spending plan, and the Ogden City Council last week also approved the 2023-2027 capital improvement plan, which outlines larger-scale projects for the next five years. Funding would come from a range of sources.

“The plan is more of a visioning document,” said Glenn Symes, senior policy analyst for the Ogden City Council. That is, it’s subject to change from year to year, even within a specific budget year.

Here are just a few of the many capital improvement projects in the five-year plan, approved in conjunction with 2023 budget deliberations. These projects, according to preliminary plans, are tentatively to be launched in fiscal year 2023:

• Construction of a new Marshall White Center, with an estimated cost of $23 million. Funding, as now proposed, would come from donations, local and federal grants and a bond of up to $15 million.
• Replacement of two water lines — the 4.2-mile water line that traverses the Ogden Canyon along the Ogden River and the Pineview water line. The cost of the two projects totals around $80 million, with up to $60 million coming from state and federal grants and another $20 million coming from bonding.
• Addition of parking in Ogden, with a total cost over the long haul of $90.3 million, including nearly $34 million in 2023. Officials haven’t spelled out details of the proposed spending for the coming year, but a planned $31.45 million multilevel lot in the Wonder Block near the city center has received regular discussion of late.
• Planning and design for continued development of the Nine Rails Creative District in Ogden. The immediate plans call for improvements along 25th Street from Washington Boulevard to Jefferson Avenue and Ogden Avenue from 25th Street to 26th Street, around The Monarch. The total price tag for the work is $3 million, with around $300,000 of that earmarked for the planning and design efforts slated for 2023.
• Planning and design for a proposed auto overpass hauling 12th Street car traffic over the north-south rail line that bisects the east-west roadway west of Harrison Boulevard, with a price tag of $1.6 million. As is, “slow or stopped trains at the crossing are a common occurrence for local businesses and frequent users of 12th Street,” read Ogden budget documents.

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