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SALT LAKE CITY — After a mailer from a Salt Lake County elected official raised eyebrows, the county council is now poised to take action to keep it from happening again.
An ordinance is set to be introduced and debated Tuesday afternoon that would limit how mailers can be used around an election.
This comes after Salt Lake County Recorder Rashelle Hobbs recently sent a flyer along with property tax notices. On one side, it talks about a program called Property Watch, which helps people track recorded changes to their property. The other side prominently features Hobbs's name and photo.
Salt Lake County Councilmember Aimee Winder Newton was surprised.
"I just thought, this looks like a campaign piece," she said.
Bipartisan pushback
Hobbs, a Democrat, is running for re-election. Winder Newton is a Republican, but she said the pushback was bipartisan.
"We want to make sure that the public doesn't think that we're using tax dollars for campaign pieces," Winder Newton said.
She and Democrat Ann Granato are now co-sponsoring an ordinance tightening the rules. It states that county elected officials cannot send out mailers within 60 days of an election in which they're running unless the law requires it. If that's the case, they cannot include their photo or name in extra-large font.
Hobbs initially agreed to do an interview with KSL-TV about this but then canceled it, instead sending a statement.
"The Property Watch insert met all branding policy requirements and guidelines currently in place for Salt Lake County," Hobbs said. "Even under the proposed ordinance changes, the insert would have required only minimal stylistic adjustments."
Hobbs added the mailer was effective in getting people to sign up for Property Watch, leading to a "more than a 300% increase in registrations compared to the first nine months of 2024, with nearly 6,000 homeowners signing up in less than 30 days — a clear indication of this initiative's effectiveness for Salt Lake County residents."
Reaction from opponent
But her election opponent, Richard Snelgrove, applauded the proposed county ordinance and blasted the mailer.
"I ask County Recorder Rashelle Hobbs to report this on her campaign finance disclosure as a donation to her campaign from the taxpayers of Salt Lake County," Snelgrove said in a statement. "I also ask her to apologize to the people of Salt Lake County for this unethical use of taxpayer dollars."
In her statement, Hobbs said it was the Salt Lake County Treasurer's office that "preferred this direct method of informing residents" about the Property Watch program.
Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, chief deputy treasurer Phil Conder said the recorder's office approached them and asked to include the insert with property tax notices, and the treasurer's office agreed.
"They designed it, and they put it in," Conder said, adding that the district attorney's office signed off on what was done.
Meanwhile, Winder Newton's ordinance is scheduled to be introduced and debated Tuesday. She believes passing it will prevent future problems.
"We just need good policy to ensure that tax dollars in Salt Lake County are spent wisely," Winder Newton said.
