Draper’s Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget is $161 million, one million less than the previous year. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. There’s a proposed property tax increase for residents as well as an increase in water rates for those who get their water from the city (not WaterPro customers). Property tax, sales tax, permits and fees are the city’s four sources of revenue. 

“We run a lean, tight ship. I think the budget is fair, it accomplishes our goals with the least expenses we can have. The labor market is competitive and our goal is to pay our employees well and have good people working for us. The tax increase is about maintaining higher pay for public safety,” Mayor Troy Walker said. 

John Vuyk, Draper’s finance director, said the biggest increases within the budget are for public safety. Staffing has been increased by four personnel in the fire department “to maintain minimum staffing on a more consistent basis.” Within the police department, one new person will be hired, a part-time records position will transition to full-time, and a Deputy Police Chief will be added. 

“The other big piece for public safety is there’s a competition in the valley for a limited resource—police and firefighters. We have implemented new pay structures within the police and fire departments so we can remain competitive, keep our highly trained personnel, and hopefully recruit those who want to enter those fields to come and work in Draper,” Vuyk said. 

Walker has said Draper is never going to offer the highest pay for public safety in the valley, but he wants the city to be competitive. “This puts us competitive. It’s ever-evolving. It changes when the next city does an increase,” Walker said. Those new costs are what the property tax increase will fund. The median home price in Draper is $764,000 and the projected annual tax increase for a median price home will be about $78 annually or $6.50 per month. That adjustment should generate $1.7 million dollars to address the aforementioned public safety needs.

“I’m very supportive of this so we can give our first responders the compensation they deserve,” councilmember Mike Green said. 

Walker is proud to point out that Draper hasn’t had a tax increase in 17 years and has been the lowest taxed city in Salt Lake County. “We were the lowest and now we’ll be the second lowest. We leapfrogged Sandy,” Vuyk said. 

Walker said a declining sales tax revenue precipitated the property tax increase coupled with a need to offer competitive wages for fire and police. “We’ve seen steady increases in sales tax until this year....The other thing we’ve seen a decrease in is building. As that goes down, people aren’t coming in for licenses, permits and such. It’s a general impact of the economy slowing down a little bit,” Vuyk said. 

On the subject of water rates, some Draper residents get their water from WaterPro and others get it from the city. Vuyk said water has seen increases in cost which led to operating losses for the city. This rate hike is to overcome that deficit and move the water fund into a positive balance. According to Vuyk, the last time Draper raised the actual water rates was 2017. 

“We don’t have our own water source as a city, we take it from Jordan Valley Conservancy and we resell it to you (the public). But in that process, we have to build and maintain the lines. We’re not trying to make a profit, we’re trying to sell you water that meets the needs of our system going forward. Water is not going to get less expensive in our lifetime,” Walker said.

Councilmember Fred Lowry commented. “We probably waited too long for this since we have a deficit. We need to do this so we can provide the service,” he said. 

A 5% merit and cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all city employees is also part of the new budget. Walker broke down the 5% raise. “Merit is 2% and COLA is 3%. We’re just trying to take care of the employees and keep the city running,” he said. The only city employees who aren’t getting that 5% raise are the mayor and councilmembers. “There are no elected officials getting any raises,” Walker said. 

According to Vuyk, when the city looked at other municipalities, the average increase was 5.7%, but Draper opted for a flat 5% increase. That will add $1.1 million to the budget’s General Fund. The tax increase for public safety personnel is in addition to the 5% COLA and merit increases those personnel will get. 

Walker feels strongly that the city should maintain some savings as part of the budget. “We need to keep a healthy fund balance for emergencies because stuff happens. We had to pay $5.5 million for damage to our public property from that big storm last year. We were fortunate to have the money. We’ve been smart and frugal,” he said. 

Residents can help keep property taxes as low as possible in Draper by shopping and eating out locally. “We get a large chunk of our budget out of sales tax. My plea is whenever you can, buy from home. It helps our community,” Walker said. 

An opportunity for public comment on the budget happened at the June 4 city council meeting, but no one came forward to comment. The state requires a truth in taxation hearing for the tax increase. That hearing is scheduled for Aug. 14 at 6 p.m. at Draper City Hall, 1020 Pioneer Road. Following that hearing, the council will adopt a property tax rate and finalize the budget. λ