Property tax funds to replace unpopular local fee

The New Year was the beginning of the end for the unpopular police services fee assessed to the residents of unincorporated Salt Lake County, including Millcreek Township.

Beginning Jan. 1, Millcreek residents are no longer being assessed an additional public safety fee to pay for Unified Police Department services in the area. Instead, local police services will be paid for through property taxes.

Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Service Area District Administrator Kerri Nakamura said this year residents should expect a new tax assessed by the SLVLESA Board of Trustees as part of their annual property tax bill in November.

“The fee will go away, and in its place is the property tax assessment,” Nakamura said.

On Dec. 6, the SLVLESA Board, consisting of Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, Salt Lake County Councilmembers Jim Bradley and Michael Jensen, voted to assess the new property tax to pay for police services during a public open house meeting held at the Unified Police Department building in South Salt Lake.

The SLVLESA property tax will replace both the public safety fee and a municipal service fund property tax previously assessed by Salt Lake County.

According to figures provided by SLVLESA and Salt Lake County, the changes will amount to a 6 percent savings in fees and taxes for the average resident each year.

For example, based on a home valued at $233,200 (the county average) a property owner will pay $265.65 in assessed SLVLESA property tax rather than the $162 public safety fee plus an additional $108 assessed for county municipal services.

The change to the tax rate for homeowners was made a year ahead of the scheduled deadline to eliminate the public safety fee.

During the final session of the Utah Legislature held last spring, lawmakers passed a bill eliminating the public services fee.

In response, Salt Lake County and SLVLESA officials spent the final months of last year searching for alternative sources of funding to replace the fee and pay for police service costs without a reduction in services.

A series of open house meetings were held throughout unincorporated Salt Lake County last summer to take public comments before the decision was made in December.

At the time, Corroon said that he would support a switch to funding police services with a change in the property tax rate.

“I support … [replacing] the police fee with property tax. Under this plan the majority of unincorporated Salt Lake County homeowners will actually pay less than they have with the police fee,” Corroon said.

Despite public dissatisfaction with the public safety fee, most Millcreek residents paid the yearly bill of $174 in 2010 and $162 in 2011.

Salt Lake County Mayor’s Office spokesperson Michael Shea said although the public safety fee had been “very unpopular,” only 5 percent of residents had been delinquent in making the payments.

“It’s just a small minority,” Shea said.

Regardless of the change in paying for police services with a new property tax, residents should expect that all unpaid, outstanding service fees for 2010 and 2011 will still be collected.