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TOOELE — Residents in Tooele County are calling on the state to perform an audit of their school district after another tax increase proposal could cost some hundreds per month.
The district made the proposal earlier this summer, citing a budget deficit of $7 million after losing state funds, and depleting property values couldn't compensate for the construction of new schools.
The proposal, however, comes after the district approved a 40% property tax increase last year.
Home values have been plummeting in Tooele County, with property values dropping nearly 5% in 2024.
Meanwhile, residents find themselves paying more taxes to keep them.
"There's nothing we can do," Mandy Brown said about the new proposal. She said she feels the district has already made up its mind, despite offering a truth-in-taxation hearing at the end of August for the proposal.
A recently passed tax increase brought Brown's home payments up by over a thousand dollars a month.
Should the new proposal be approved, the rate would rise by hundreds more.
"We're going from $3,682 a year to $5,262," she said of her possible new property taxes. "In one year," she said.
If passed, property taxes in Tooele will have gone up by nearly 60% since 2022. Business owners who live in the county feel double the impact.
"In two years, I can tell you my commercial building went from just under $3,000 in property taxes to over eight," Brown added.
The school board will be holding a truth in taxation meeting on Aug. 27 at 6 p.m. at the school district's office building to weigh the pros and cons of the increase.
They say, however, the funding is needed to finish constructing the new schools after losing $50 million in state funds in January, due to stopping an online program that enrolled over 8,000 students.
"I'm sure $50 million being pulled out of the budget, they're going to have to make ends meet," resident Nicco Herrera said.
Not every resident is against the tax increase, however, especially those who started paying less in taxes after seeing home values plummet.
Herrera says his home lost over $100,000 in value.
"With the proposal, that would only be $130 extra, so it's not too much of a big deal," he said.
Herrera said it makes sense for the difference to be made up, in order for his kids to receive better schooling. However, Brown said there are already problems within the school's budget.
"They need to go through and reallocate things correctly," she said.
Budget cuts that haven't been made in the school district since the multimillion-dollar funding loss include a $9,000 annual pay raise per board member, passed in December last year.
Born and raised in Tooele, Brown said she has seen salary raises before amidst deficits.
"Tooele County is quickly, rapidly becoming very, extremely unaffordable when it used to be one of the most affordable counties to live in," she said.
KSL-TV reached out to the Tooele County School District for comment and was told everyone is on vacation and unable to talk.
