Sandy • The Canyons School District’s board voted unanimously to approve a property tax increase of about 6% — after hearing from residents who say the district needs to cut its budget rather than take more tax money.
“This is ridiculous,” said Deborah Burk, a resident who spoke at the board’s Tuesday meeting, who said she has seen her property taxes go up $500 a year over the past two years.
“There needs to be some responsibility in what you are spending the money on,” Burk told board members. “I don’t know how you expect people to pay more and more.”
According to the district, the increase will add 5.9% to residents’ property taxes. For an average home, valued at $740,000, that means an increase of about $70 a year.
Leon Wilcox, the Canyons School District’s business administrator, said the increase was needed so the district can keep up with rising inflation of education-related expenses.
“If you bring in $100 [in taxes] one year, you can only bring in $100 the next year,” Wilcox said as he went over a “Truth in Taxation” slides presentation. “If you want to exceed that $100, you have to do a ‘truth in taxation.’ ... There is no inflationary adjustment for the certified tax rate.”
Canyons has only raised property taxes three times since 2009, a district spokesperson said — in 2019, 2024 and in Tuesday’s meeting.
The district’s hikes are not the only reason residents have been paying more property taxes, Wilcox noted. He said property values, both residential and commercial, have gone up in the last few years.
The average home value in the district has gone up 67% in the last five years, Wilcox said — while residents have only paid 26.5% more in overall taxes in that time.
More money for teachers
The tax increase, Wilcox said, would add more than $6 million to the district’s revenues. Around $4 million of that would cover school operations. The district also has to pay more in insurance costs for its employees, he said.
The district spokesperson said starting teachers’ salary for this year is $64,200, compared to $61,620 last year. In 2020, Wilcox said, the starting salary was around $50,000.
The district is also adding assistant principals to 13 elementary schools.
Board vice president Andrew Edtl said adding those assistant principals would “share the load” carried by school administrators, and allow them to be more present in classrooms. The added staff, he said, could help the district deal with “a lot of behavior issues.”
To balance the costs, the district is increasing the average class size in its high schools, and reducing the number of coaches.
The added revenue also would alleviate an “inflationary increase” of more than $500,000 for utilities, supplies and curriculum, board members said. The increase also would help pay down more than $2 million in debt from the bond payment for the Innovation Center the district bought last year.
Board member Holly Neibaur said the tax increase is also necessary because of the state’s voucher program, which redirects money from public to private schools.
The Alpine School District’s board also raised that district’s property taxes Tuesday, with an increase of 11.5%, Fox 13 reported.
The Granite School District’s board approved an increase of 9% on Tuesday, a Granite spokesman said.
The Tooele School District’s board, after a contentious four-hour meeting Tuesday, also approved a property tax hike, a spokesperson for that district said. The increase works out to about 9.8%, after the expiration of a county tax correction.
The Davis School District is slated to discuss a possible property tax increase on Aug. 19.
Canyons School District, Wilcox said in his presentation, has the lowest property taxes and the highest-paid teacher salaries compared to six neighboring districts — Alpine, Davis, Granite, Jordan, Nebo and Tooele.
Residents voice opposition
Around 20 residents attended Tuesday’s meeting, and some spoke up against the tax hike.
Retired residents complained they would face a bigger burden because they are on fixed incomes. Others said renovations to buildings are “too lavish,” and the district’s money should go to educational purposes instead.
Laura Gundry, who said she has two children attending Canyons schools, said she was “not happy at all” with the tax increase. She said she petitioned to have her property taxes lowered in 2024, and it took nearly a year and an in-person hearing to get the decrease approved.
Gundry said parents have been talking about the possibility that the school one of her children attends will close soon, she said, and more will follow. Those closures, she said, should lower the district’s budget. (The Canyons district spokesperson said no decisions have been made about closing any schools.)
Another resident, Susan Harman, told the board the tax increase “is not needed.”
“The district spends too much money on frivolous items,” Harman said. “The lunch ladies and the custodians should be paid more. ... But the luxuries need to halt.”
Residents can apply for property tax relief with the Salt Lake County Treasurer. There are six different exemptions. The deadline is Sept. 1.