West Haven candidates address growth, property taxes, policing
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- Five of the six candidates for three spots on the West Haven City Council gathered Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, for a candidate forum, hosted by the Weber County League of Women Voters. The five candidates, from left, are Carrie Call, Kim Dixon, Clarence Kelley, Jim McGregor and Nina Morse. Sharon Hilton is also running but couldn’t attend due to illness.
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- Five of the six candidates for three spots on the West Haven City Council gathered Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, for a candidate forum, hosted by the Weber County League of Women Voters. The five candidates, from left and located behind the dais, are Carrie Call, Kim Dixon, Clarence Kelley, Jim McGregor and Nina Morse. Sharon Hilton is also running but couldn’t attend due to illness.
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- Five of the six candidates for three spots on the West Haven City Council gathered Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, for a candidate forum, hosted by the Weber County League of Women Voters. The five candidates, from left, are Carrie Call, Kim Dixon, Clarence Kelley, Jim McGregor and Nina Morse. Sharon Hilton is also running but couldn’t attend due to illness.
WEST HAVEN — Five of the six West Haven City Council hopefuls met with Election Day nearing, sounding off on growth as the city’s population booms and the specter of someday having to implement a property tax.
The candidates — incumbents Carrie Call, Nina Morse and Kim Dixon along with challengers Clarence Kelley and Jim McGregor — met Thursday at the West Haven municipal building, fielding questions from the Weber County League of Women Voters, the event organizer. Sharon Hilton is also running for one of three at-large City Council seats up for grabs but couldn’t attend due to illness.
West Haven is the fastest-growing city in Weber County and one of the fastest-growing cities in the state and the hopefuls’ thoughts on how to contend with it was the focus of the first question they faced. Broadly, the candidates said their aim would be to manage and slow the city’s expansion as opposed to halting it.
Dixon, finishing her first term, said the City Council has tweaked West Haven’s zoning ordinances in response to the expansion to make sure development occurs “in the right places.” Construction of high-density housing — notably, new apartment buildings — has been a particular point of contention in the city and it spurred her to run for the City Council for the first time in 2019, same as Morse.
“What we want is intelligent growth,” Dixon said.
Stopping growth isn’t feasible as property owners have rights to develop, said Kelley, but maybe tempering the pace of expansion is the way to go. He said he has some ideas to that end but didn’t spell them out.
“I think there are things we can do to slow the growth,” he said. The city, he went on, “can’t continue on the same steep trend.”
West Haven is updating its general plan, the document that serves as a guide to growth, and McGregor said maybe the update could contain provisions that help keep growth at “some level of sanity.” The import of the planned general plan update was a repeated theme among the candidates.
Morse and Call, like Dixon, referred to City Council efforts to rein in growth via changes to city ordinances. All three incumbents are finishing their first terms. The efforts, Morse said, seem to have helped slow expansion “quite a bit” and helped restrict high-density development to “where it should be.”
In her opening statement, Call noted the West Haven area’s reputation as having a more country feel, saying that’s what drew her to the city. The growth has many long-timers wringing their hands over the changing character of the city, now home to 22,395, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates for 2022.
“We love the country atmosphere. That’s why we wanted to be here,” Call said.
All the candidates said West Haven has allowed enough high-density housing in the city, including apartments. Kelley, McGregor and Morse said the city should put a focus on permitting single-family home development.
A PROPERTY TAX?
West Haven doesn’t levy a property tax, as is common in most other Weber County cities, and city leaders over the years have debated the possibility of doing so to shore up the city budget. The property tax issue was the focus of the second question the candidates faced. In response, they said variously that the city seems to be managing fine without the tax, at least for now, and that implementing the tax may someday be necessary, though it would be a last resort.
Kelley said he hopes to avoid implementing a tax, but as the city grows, “it doesn’t mean we won’t reach that point.”
McGregor thinks the tax is probably “inevitable” at some point in the future and that expected growth in law enforcement costs could push West Haven in that direction. West Haven contracts with the Weber County Sheriff’s Office for policing.
Morse said making sure the city’s budget is sound has been a focus for her as a City Council member and that, so far, the city’s finances are healthy. New businesses and the sales tax revenue they generate help.
Monitoring city spending will continue to be a focus, she said, “but right now we look good.”
Call and Dixon sounded similar messages. “I think at the moment we do have a sufficient tax base. We’re going to evaluate that every year,” Call said.
On policing and law enforcement, McGregor and Kelley said traffic issues seem to be an increasing problem in West Haven.
After Morse started on the City Council, fomenting good relations with the Weber County Sheriff’s Office was a priority, she said, adding that the efforts have paid off.
Call touted the import of promoting the sheriff’s office’s Volunteers in Police Service program, or VIPS, a volunteer initiative that taps the help of residents in monitoring activity around the city.
With a new Weber School District elementary, junior high and high school taking shape in or around West Haven, Dixon said assuring the safety of children, particularly going to and from school, is a big concern.
Ballots have been mailed to voters and they are due Nov. 21. The top three vote-getters will win the City Council seats.