New fire station election canceled on Kaysville ballots

KAYSVILLE — Voters in Kaysville will no longer have the option to vote on a proposed $16.5 million general obligation bond for a second fire station within the city during the 2026 General Election.

The Kaysville City Council voted on Wednesday during a special city council meeting to cancel the fire station election, even though ballots have already been printed with the fire station bond as an option, and many have already been mailed out.

Kaysville Mayor Tami Tran said if people vote on that part of the ballot, it will be null and void.

"(We want) to make sure that people really know what they're voting for and everybody feels like their voices are heard," Tran said. "We wanted to role it back and cancel the bond for this year and make sure that everything is done exactly correctly."

The decision came after the city received complaints that people haven't seen an opposing argument to the bond. When the city council posted its notice on Aug. 10 about the proposed bond election being on ballots, that notice should have told voters how and when to submit arguments for or against the bond. According to new legislation passed in 2025, both sides need to be apparent to the voters.

"We wanted to make sure that we are overly transparent, especially on something, you know, this big," Tran told KSL. "And we did not solicit for an opposing viewpoint prior to releasing the information in the information packet about the bond."

If passed by voters, the $16.5 million general obligation bond would have led to the construction of a second fire station in west Kaysville, where response times could be improved.

"National standards call for fire and medical units to arrive within six minutes of a 911 call, 90% of the time," the Kaysville City website states. "In 2025, Kaysville met that benchmark only 60% of the time, with west-side responses averaging around eight minutes and reaching up to 12 minutes in some areas."

According to the city website, city and firefighter officials have been looking into the idea of building another fire station since 2018. Tran said she believes the city needs another fire station as growth continues.

Kaysville City Attorney Nicholas Mills and Kaysville City Manager Jaysen Christensen also agreed on taking the special bond election off of ballots and felt that Kaysville could have done a better job with full transparency, but the issue may be reopened in the future.

The city expects the fire station bond question to appear on the November 2027 ballot.

Related topics