A planned property tax hike of nearly 15% in Salt Lake County is under attack from a group of residents who filed a petition Monday for a referendum to overturn it.
The 14.65% tax hike, which was approved last week by the Salt Lake County Council as members set the 2026 budget, will generate an additional $36.5 million for the county to pay for rising operational costs and investments in public safety. Monday’s opponents seeking the referendum included one dressed up as the Grinch — to illustrate the group’s belief that county officials aim to steal tax dollars like the Grinch aimed to steal Christmas.
“Salt Lake County has become really unaffordable,” said Goud Maragani, a former Republican candidate for Salt Lake County clerk who is leading the push against the tax hike. “... We can’t control the price of gas, we can’t control the price of food, can’t control the price of housing, but we can control whether our property taxes go up, and so we decided we’re going to run a referendum and we’re going to try to do this.”
Salt Lake County attorneys will review the referendum application over the next 20 days. Once lawyers determine if the application meets certain legal requirements, the group will have 45 days to collect about 45,000 signatures from residents across the county, Maragani added.
(Jordan Miller | The Salt Lake Tribune) A Salt Lake County resident dressed in a Grinch costume signs the petition for a referendum over the county's planned property tax hike at the Salt Lake County clerk's office on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.
It’s unclear how the potential referendum could affect the implementation of the 2026 budget, Salt Lake County Deputy Clerk Nikila Venugopal said.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, along with the eight county council members who approved the 2026 budget, said in a joint statement that it could have “serious implications” for funding county operations, especially regarding public safety.
“Overturning a county tax increase does not eliminate the underlying county costs or mandated responsibilities,” they said in the statement. “Rather, it simply shifts how and whether the county can meet them, ultimately forcing reductions in critical services, especially for our most vulnerable – and will eventually lead to the need for an even greater tax increase down the road.”
The referendum supporter who dressed up in a Grinch costume did not identify herself, but had a name tag that read “Aimee Winder Newton,” who is a Republican member of the county council. The Grinch carried a hobby horse labeled “Carlos Moreno” who was the only member of the nine-member council to vote against the tax increase.
The horse was a reference to comments Winder Newton made after the council’s final vote on Dec. 9, the supporter in the Grinch costume said.
“I just want to tell all of you, colleagues who supported this budget and who worked so hard on it, how much I appreciate working with you,” Winder Newton said. “I know we don’t always agree and you know it’s a partisan body and so it gets a little tricky sometimes, but you know this county needs work horses not show horses — and you seven are those, and I appreciate working with you.”
Although the council’s approved tax increase was less than the nearly 20% increase proposed by Wilson, West Valley City resident Monica Wilbur said the cut was “not really a discount; it’s still a bad deal.”
“We are taxed enough already,” said Wilbur, who was in the group with Maragani Monday. “Fourteen percent is exorbitant to tax, and it hurts families, and it hurts the economy — it’s not a good idea.”
Those who want to get involved with the referendum can keep up with Maragani on his social media profiles, he said. Phil Lyman, a former state lawmaker who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2024, will also help get the message out, Maragani added.