Roy City Council member Alexis Jackson wasn’t the only person to give a presentation in the June 16 City Council meeting. Council member Diane Wilson also gave a presentation addressing what she called “frequently asked questions or comments.”

While Council member Bryon Saxton and the public acknowledged the effort, disagreements persisted.

Multiple residents spoke during the public comment period, addressing various concerns.

Before the public comment period, Council member Janel Hulbert said she liked the cost-cutting app Jackson used and said there were “very, very, very little things to cut anymore.”

Wilson called Jackson’s presentation “absolutely exceptional” and said she thinks “it confirms what we’ve been working on very diligently the last year and a half.” In Wilson’s presentation, she took aim at the 55.45% statistic, saying the dollars needed to be the focus.

She called the 55.45% statistic “very sensational” and said “it definitely doesn’t help. It doesn’t help at all.”

Saxton praised Jackson’s effort but ultimately reached a different conclusion.

“I guess we’re saving the best for last in here,” he said. “Great information. Appreciate all the work that’s gone into it, but as an elected official, I have to balance what I’ve received from the public with what and how I’m to vote, and as great as this information is, and I recognize the work that’s gone into it, it truly does not outweigh just the three emails I got today from residents begging for help, begging for a little relief. And so, I hope I don’t disappoint, but that being said, I know why I’m here. I know who put me here. And I realize that ($17.76) a month is a couple of combo meals, but for some, it’s too much.”

Saxton also brought up the effect of the proposed tax increase on businesses.

“It would kind of be nice if on some of these sheets, we have a better idea of what it’s going to cost some of our commercial partners,” he said.

Saxton said he would challenge the percentage increase until he knew more.

Public comment

Barbara Atencio spoke during the public comment period and mentioned the organization chart posted on the city website showing the Roy residents at the top, followed by the mayor, then the city manager, then the departments.

“My question is, since the residents of Roy are at the top, are you listening to us?” she said.

Kevin Homer challenged the sourcing for the presentation and wanted more citations.

Melissa Conkling praised the explanations in the presentation but expressed frustration with salaries.

“What I’m upset about is that some managers make more than the average person in Roy. That’s not cool, OK?” she said. “Y’all don’t need to make – I don’t know what the big person makes at the top, but those prices need to come down a little bit because … you do have senior citizens.”

Richard Jensen addressed raises.

“I know you’re not required by law to give COLA to every individual the same,” he said. “You do not have a contract that you have to do that. And I agree that everybody should have a raise, but I think of these people that are getting $180,000 to $200,000 a year, sure they need a raise, but they don’t need both. They don’t need COLA and wage adjustment. So I think we need to look at those things.

“The fire department savings is mentioned. Sure, we’re going to have a deduction in … property tax if we go to Weber County, but what’s Weber County going to do? They’re going to increase your Weber County taxes. So you’re going to pay it regardless of what you do.”

Shelly Poulston expressed perhaps the most pointed frustration with the tax increase proposal.

“Government produces zero,” she said. “You don’t produce anything. Everything you spend and do, you took from me. Everything. Government produces nothing. That’s why we’re concerned. A little tax here, a little tax there, a little tax here – it never stops. I’ve listened to all your comments, the different things that you’ve talked about concerning the things that you have researched and looked at. I understand that. And I believe that you’re committed to those goals and you’re not willing to change your stance. I get that, too. I don’t agree with it, but I understand where you’re coming from.”

She said she’s struggling.

“I believe you have champagne tastes on a beer budget, and I’m tired of people taking my money without changing anything,” she said. “It’s very frustrating. The other thing I wanted to say is you changed the comments to three minutes, which curtails free speech for we the people, so I would ask you to keep your comments concise and limited as well.”

Stephen Hughes said a lot of people came to Roy as first-time homebuyers and renters because of affordability and “that’s being destroyed.” He wanted to know more about how a tax increase helps him.

He also addressed the idea of people accepting jobs at lower wages, not being as qualified and ultimately dismissed.

“Why is the conclusion then we have to increase pay to prevent the hiring of incompetent people?” he said. “Where is the accountability for the department heads that went about hiring those people? Where is the accountability for the hiring process? Has there been any data or study on that? I mean, but there probably hasn’t been, just like the wage study was totally in house and biased. I’m sorry to sound that blunt, but I will say I feel a responsibility to speak for this, especially as someone … in my late 30s. We feel the burden more than people who bought their house 50 years ago in the city, who have supplements. We really do, and I don’t see a lot of people standing up for people in my generation. So I guess my encouragement would be, and I know there’s an attempt, but I would keep encouraging you, please try to articulate how these changes are going to benefit people such as myself.”

Post-meeting comments

After the council meeting, Jackson spoke with the Standard-Examiner and said if enough people came to her saying there’s no way they could pay the increase and wanted “to start cutting things that make Roy City valuable,” she would be willing to have that conversation, but she hasn’t seen an appetite for it.

She said the idea is to catch up with wages and then keep up, “but you have to start somewhere.”

She said Roy is not alone in the dilemma of dealing with rising costs and trying to beat inflation. She said other cities have the same problems.

She said she understands the concerns because she is a taxpaying resident and experiences struggles as well.

“And so I think that I come to the table bringing that perspective and also looking at this issue from every perspective and saying, ‘OK, I understand what this would do to me. I know people in the city that struggle as well, just like I do.’ And I have to balance that with what are we losing when we fail to catch up with these costs? And how does it damage our city internally and then start to affect residents and their quality of life?” she said.

Saxton said after the meeting that his ultimate goal is to lower the 54.45%.

“To me, it’s choking, and that is a historic number,” he said. “I don’t care how they sell it. That will be the biggest tax increase I think in the history of Roy, and I do not want to be a part of it. I didn’t run for office to be a part of it. And so I am going to fight it until they get sick of me or kick me out of the club.”

He acknowledged wage increases need to be addressed.

“But the problem is that if we make this commitment for 54, how are we reassured that the right people get the right wages so the turnover will drop?” he said. “And I don’t know if you can guarantee that, because turnover occurs in all kinds of fashion.”

Saxton said he’s concerned with realizing later that savings were possible.

“I’m concerned that we’re going to be stuck with this incredible dump of money into our general fund, and we’re going to find out we can save a few hundred thousand by going with Weber Fire and all of that going towards, ‘Hey, you know what? We got money. Let’s spend it’ kind of attitude. I don’t want that. Let’s run a lean, mean ship, one that gets the things done and keeps our name out of the paper.”

Speaking to the challenge of the position he’s in, he said:

“This has been the toughest part-time job I’ve ever freaking had. Put that in the paper.”

In speaking about the importance of wage corrections, Roy City Chief of Police Matthew Gwynn said he keeps hearing people say government needs to operate more like a business.

“Well, the private market has competing interests,” he said. “How many burger joints do we have? How many pizza joints do we have? They’re all competing (with) one another. They’re competing for sales. They’re competing for employees. We’re not immune from the market. We’re not immune from inflation, which, you know, is a reason that we’re seeing this. At the same time, we’re not immune from competing with other cities for law enforcement.

“It costs a lot of money and a lot of time to train an officer – actually, to even hire an officer that you feel like is going to be qualified, send them to the academy, get them all their equipment, get them on the road, get them through FTO. It can take about a year to train an officer before they’re out on their own. And sometimes they don’t make it off FTO, and then we have to start all over again. And so if we can retain that employee, it certainly saves us on startup costs as it relates to turnover.

“And so every time an officer leaves for a better wage, we’re having to pay all those exorbitant upfront costs just to train somebody who may either, one, not make it off FTO, or two, may leave after two or three years and go somewhere else. And so what we don’t want is to become a training ground and have a department full of inexperienced officers, because that can affect customer service. And so if we want to retain talent, if we want to retain competent talent, if we want to provide customer service, we need to keep employees here. And we believe we have the culture to keep them happy. They don’t want to leave, but they are leaving because we cannot compete with the wage that they’re getting elsewhere.”

Addressing those on fixed incomes, Gwynn referenced comments Jackson made at the beginning of her presentation. Jackson shared a QR code that would take people to a Weber County tax relief website.

Roy resident Ty Chaston said there are a lot of programs the city is going to have to decide can’t be done right now and shut them down.

“They shut down a fire department and the complex was open,” he said, referring to the closure of a fire department in December. “So the complex must be more important than our firefighters.

“I don’t have all the details of what the cost savings of that was, but why didn’t we shut down the complex versus the fire department? Because the complex has got more safety reasons to stay open? It doesn’t make sense to me. … They don’t seem to understand. Why are we keeping this open? If they were to close that down and close a bunch of other things down, and maybe some of the things like the fireworks and so forth – let’s get the money where it needs to be so we can build. They forgot how to save to do the things that need to be done.”

He said the tax increase is going to affect a lot of residents but said it would impact businesses as well.

“I’d never move my business to Roy because they have to pay 100% of that tax,” he said.

He said the economic director is never going to bring a business to Roy to bring in more revenue when taxes are raised.

“Because business owners are those that are entrepreneurs,” he said. “Before they take a business somewhere, they’re going to look at location, they’re going to look at accessibility and they’re going to look at how much does it cost, how much revenue are they taking out of me?”

Contact Standard-Examiner editor Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.