A city, county, school board or other taxing authority would be required to schedule a standalone hearing to consider tax increases, and allow time for effectively any member of the public who wishes to speak, under a bill that earned preliminary, unanimous approval from the Utah Senate on Friday.
Senators voted 27-0 for SB179, which requires so-called “Truth in Taxation” hearings to be scheduled as the lone agenda item during such a meeting, or combined with discussion of a proposed budget. And those hearings must be held “without unreasonable restriction on the number of individuals allowed to make public comment.”
“A city should not be putting their Truth in Taxation hearing on the same day that they‘re hearing about a homeless shelter,” said bill sponsor Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan.
Originally, the bill prohibited any restriction on the amount of public comment. But the “unreasonable” clause was added on the Senate floor after lawmakers questioned the feasibility of truly accommodating every person who wishes to speak.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, requested that change and noted that legislative committees regularly limit the number and length of public comments in order to maintain workflow in the Legislature.
“Sometimes we have to limit that,” he said.
But Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, questioned whether the state had “gone too far” with Truth in Taxation laws. He said the burden of holding the hearings has caused taxing entities to go years without approving adjustments for inflation and increases for budgetary needs.
“We probably should have had more property tax increases on a local basis to keep up,” Hillyard said. “But we really haven’t done it.”
Sen. Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork, described the bill as a good compromise and a step in the right direction.
“I think it makes sense to say the public needs to have a voice,” she said. “The public needs to be able to come and say what’s on their mind.”
