Ivins • Before Ivins City Council members can adopt a final budget for fiscal year 2024 next month, they need to get the red out — a $382,000 deficit in the general fund.
One option Councilman Mike Scott is proposing is to hike Ivins’ property tax portion by 18.6%, which would raise the amount collected on a $500,000 home by $47 per year. If adopted, it would be the first property tax hike since 2010.
“Unless or until we have sufficient taxes from other sources (sales tax, room tax, etc.), we rely on property taxes to cover the impact of inflation … ‚” Scott wrote in a blog post. “If we had more businesses generating sales and room taxes, we wouldn’t need to rely so much on property taxes.”
The problem is, according to a survey the city conducted in December, most Ivins residents are adamantly opposed to seeing any more hotels or tourist resorts built, and they are not enthusiastic about more commercial development, either.
As a result, the property tax total the city collects has not kept pace with growth or inflation. But rather than hike the tax, the city has used property taxes from new construction to offset the inflationary pressures on the budget. Scott argues that is not sustainable.
The principal reason for the deficit, Ivins leaders agree, is the large increase in public safety expenditures. Ivins and Santa Clara have an agreement that essentially merges the two cities’ police and fire departments. Ivins manages the police department, which is situated in the old city hall, and Santa Clara oversees the fire and emergency services out of its station on Rachel Drive.
Despite the purported savings as a result of the merger, public safety costs have risen dramatically over the past few years. The city’s cost for fire and emergency services for fiscal year 2024 is $1.7 million, up $500,000 from the 2023 budget, according to Ivins Finance Director Cade Visser. The city’s law enforcement budget is increasing from $3.1 million to $3.3 million.
The Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department currently has 16 full-time officers. Visser said the planned purchase of two vehicles and $30,000 worth of body cams, along with hiring an additional officer, is driving much of the increase.
Fire and emergency costs are rising due to Santa Clara-Ivins Fire and Rescue’s decision last year to transition from volunteers to a more full-time force. The number of full-time fire staff has jumped from seven a year ago to 18. The department also has seven part-time employees and 11 volunteers, which are now called reserves.
Another factor in driving up costs is the decision — at Ivins leaders’ insistence — that the department reopen the Ivins fire station on Center Street, which is now fully operational with two fire officials after it was left without staff members in 2021.
Ivins Mayor Chris Hart said the decision two years ago not to staff the station increased fire and emergency response times to Kayenta and other neighborhoods in the western part of the city, making them vulnerable and resulting in insurance agencies refusing coverage to some property owners.
While the extra full-time staff and restaffing the Ivins station have increased costs, Lance Haynie, division chief for the department said the results justify the additional expenditure. Over the past year, the department has responded to 24 structure fires.
“And we’ve only lost one,” Haynie said. “Every one of them … we were able to get to the scene of the fire and take care of it. Whereas before we were — I hate to put it this way, but we were really good at saving foundations.”
Even with the increase in public safety expenditures and the budget shortfall, a property tax hike is an unsavory option for many. There clearly was little appetite for raising the tax at a public hearing last Thursday.
Councilman Dennis Mehr said he understands Scott’s concern about the city not raising property taxes for the past 12 years.
“I get what you are saying, [but] with all due respect, I call that good government,” Mehr said. “So let’s continue good government and … turn over every leave and every stone to make sure we are doing all we can not to raise property taxes on our community.”
Fortunately, the city has options. One is to take $382,000 from the $3 million Ivins has in its general fund reserves. But that option is equally unpalatable to Scott, who said the total in reserves wouldn’t even last four months in the event an economic crisis arose.
Hart concurs with that assessment, especially given inflation and the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates.
“I’m one who is really advocating for doing whatever we have to not dip into that reserve account because I don’t think this is the time to do that,” the mayor said “There are too many things in flux out there in the economy that are a little worrisome to me.”
Yet another option to make up the budget shortfall is for the city to tap into the money — typically between $10 million and $15 million — it has in the state Public Treasure’s Investment Fund, which many cities use as a vehicle for short-term investments.
Even if Ivins does not pull out money from the fund, it is earning about $96,000 a month off the interest — about $200,000 of which could be applied to trim the deficit to $182,000. Finally, if the city can get through the next two lean budget years, help is on the way.
Black Desert Resort, a mega-resort taking shape near Snow Canyon State Park, is expected to bring budgetary relief when it opens in 2026. Once construction is completed it will feature a 147-room hotel, 19-hole golf course, 300 resort residences, three pools, and a walkable outdoor shopping center, among other amenities.
According to Black Rock officials’ numbers, the resort is expected to generate $57 million in transient room taxes and $33 million in sales tax during its first 40 years of operation. That money, city officials hope, should put Ivins on more solid financial footing.
Whatever Ivins officials decide to do, resident and self-professed conservative Mandy Reeves has some advice for them.
“Just keep your grubby hands out of my wallet,” she said with a laugh. “I pay too much tax as it is.”
