Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting - ARCHIVED

SOUTH JORDAN CITY COMBINED CITY COUNCIL & REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETING August 16, 2022 Present: Mayor Dawn Ramsey, Council Member Tamara Zander, Council Member Brad Marlor, Council Member Don Shelton, Council Member Jason McGuire, Council Member Patrick Harris, City Manager Gary Whatcott, Assistant City Manager Dustin Lewis, City Attorney Ryan Loose, Strategic Services Director Don Tingey, Director of Commerce Brian Preece, Director of Administrative Services Melinda Seager, Police Chief Jeff Carr, City Recorder Anna Crookston, Director of Public Works Jason Rasmussen, City Engineer Brad Klavano, City Planner Greg Schindler, Fire Chief Chris Dawson, Director of Recreation Janell Payne, IT Director Jon Day, Senior IS Tech Phill Brown, GIS Coordinator Matt Jarman, Meeting Transcriptionist Diana Baun, Planning Commissioner Steve Catmull, Human Resource Director Teresa Cook, Strategy and Budget Analyst Abagail Patonai Others: Angela McGuire, W, Steph’s Phone, Tracy Miller, So Jo Resident, Tom Patterson, Lanette Patterson, Troy Teeples, Jill Teeples, Brandi Smith, Gabe Smith, Jeff Matson, Donald Dunlap, Gary Garner, Bonney Bryan, Mikaela Bryan- Sanders, Dena Bryan, Tanni Barker, Peter Lynch, Patricia Kimbrough, Ahmad Jaber, Ray & Dorthey Robinson, Dona Ball, Michael Richards, Krista Wittmaack, Tracy Miller, Barton Thacker, Darryl & Jacque Barnes, Scott Bertsch, Cameron Diehl, Cherie Johnson, Cameron Harris, Curtis Schaefermeyer, Dean Brink 6:36 P.M. REGULAR MEETING A. Welcome, Roll Call, and Introduction to Electronic Meeting - By Mayor Dawn Ramsey Mayor Dawn Ramsey welcomed everyone and introduced the electronic meeting. B. Invocation – By Director of Commerce Brian Preece Director Preece offered the invocation. C. Pledge of Allegiance – By Police Chief Jeff Carr Chief Carr led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. D. Minute Approval D.1. July 19, 2022 City Council Study Meeting Minutes D.2. July 19, 2022 City Council Meeting Minutes South Jordan City 2 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 D.3. August 2, 2022 City Council Study Meeting Minutes Council Member Zander noted that she misspoke regarding the vote for Haven Harvest Village on 11/21/2017. It was actually a 3-2 vote with her and Council Member Harris both in opposition. Council Member Zander motioned to approve the July 19, 2022 City Council Study Meeting minutes as printed, the July 19, 2022 City Council Meeting as printed, and the August 2, 2022 City Council Study Meeting minutes as amended above. Council Member Harris seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. E. Mayor and Council Reports Council Member Jason McGuire has had a few residents reach out with concerns, and staff was able to help resolve those issues. Council Member Tamara Zander has had a few residents reach out to her as well, resulting in some great conversations and her feeling their support once they understood everything that is being discussed tonight. Council Member Brad Marlor did not have an Architectural Review Committee meeting since the last council meeting. He also had a few residents reach out regarding tonight’s topic of conversation. He appreciated being able to talk with staff in preparation for tonight’s meeting. Council Member Patrick Harris appreciates all the residents that reached out. He had the opportunity to speak with a potential future developer in our city as well. Council Member Don Shelton said since the last meeting he has met with the Jordan River Commission Board that he serves on. He visited with staff about the budget and presentation tonight, and he appreciated their help in understanding how the whole taxation process works. He also had city staff take care of a number of issues for residents and concerns that he had, and he appreciated that. He attended the Utah League of Cities and Towns Legislative Policy Committee meeting yesterday, along with chairing the Western Growth Coalition meeting where they had a researcher from the Gardner Institute attend and speak to them about affordable housing and the shortage of housing in Utah. Mayor Dawn Ramsey said it has been a full couple of weeks for her. There is a lot of good work taking place here and across the state, much that we get to be a part of. The Utah Open golf tournament is happening this week, and Special Olympics was able to work with Glenmoor Golf Course and the Utah PGA on a putting challenge for some of the Special Olympians. They were able to participate in a putting skills challenge at the Utah Open and she got to partner with a few students living in South Jordan. Buffalo Wild Wings has completed their renovation and are open again, she was able to meet with them. She had the unique opportunity to meet Princess Rima of Saudi Arabia, who is also the ambassador to the US from Saudi Arabia. She came and spoke, she knew of South Jordan and they spoke about economic development and some of the things she is working on in her kingdom. She added on September 7th we will dedicate our Gold Star Families Monument and she thanked everyone who donated to that, the donations exceeded South Jordan City 3 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 expectations. Everyone will gather around 6:00 p.m. that night, the ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. F. Public Comment Mayor Ramsey opened the public comment portion of the meeting. Lanette Patterson (Resident) – I have a concern about the county park on 10200 South. South Jordan has been doing a great job of doing the flip your strip program, and my frustration is that county park is not; they have got grass in all of their park strips and I think a brand new park could have done better. I would like to see if there is anything South Jordan can do about it. Mayor Ramsey responded that she took Ms. Patterson’s comments from the water district and brought them back the very next morning. Mayor Ramsey closed the public comments portion of the meeting. G. Public Hearing Item G.1. Resolution R2022-33, Truth and Taxation Public Hearing adopting a Final Budget; making appropriations for the support of the City of South Jordan for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2022 and ending June 30, 2023 and determining the rate of tax, and levying taxes upon all real and personal property within South Jordan City, Utah made taxable by law for the year 2022. RCV (By CFO Sunil Naidu) CFO Sunil Naidu reviewed his prepared presentation (Attachment A) and gave a brief explanation of the process involved in raising the tax rate for the city. Police Chief Jeff Carr reviewed his prepared presentation (Attachment B) regarding the South Jordan Police Department and the issues they are facing. Fire Chief Chris Dawson reviewed his prepared presentation (Attachment C) regarding the South Jordan Fire Department and the issues they are facing. CFO Naidu continued reviewing his prepared presentation (Attachment A). Council Member Marlor said he hopes the residents have heard and understood that almost all of this money is going to fire and police, in order to keep our city safe. Mayor Ramsey noted that each year we send out a survey to our residents, and year after year the top priority of our respondents is public safety. She opened the public hearing for comments and noted that she will keep the limit for each commenter to three minutes; there will be a clock displayed to help everyone know how long they have. Scott Bertsch (Resident) - As I sat here for the last 115 minutes and absorbed all this information, I am very grateful and appreciative of the jobs you guys do. With that said, I don’t think anybody here that hasn’t looked at their tax assessment thinks that it’s South Jordan Police and Fire that is the problem. The problem I see is the 22% increase that I have seen in my South Jordan City 4 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 property taxes from the year of 2020 until today, and the majority of that being Jordan School District. My youngest child is 23 years old, I have already paid over 30 years of taxes to backfill both my education and theirs. We have got to do something about the Jordan School District always wanting more money; we have to live in a budget, they should have to too. Mayor Ramsey said as a council, mayor and staff they have absolutely no vote and no say on the school district’s taxing. Mr. Bertsch - I know, but they should be at this meeting then. If they want to increase our taxes by $500, well $400 of the $500 for our taxes, they should be at this meeting, not you. They should be giving us the proposal that the police chief so graciously did, and our fire chief did, because quite personally I don’t care where the imports are educating their children at this point. I care that my taxes will, with this approval, have gone up $1000 since 2020; that is insane, especially when my father-in-law, who lives in Holladay, his went down. So, I would like to see them here if they are going to ask for that much money, they need to come to this meeting. Mayor Ramsey doesn’t know if anyone present went to the school district’s public hearing that was two weeks ago, they had this same experience with the school district at Riverton High School. Neither she, nor any members of the council were able to be there because we had our regular city council meeting. Cherie Johnson (Resident) – I am grateful to the police department. I love our police, love our fireman, and thank you very much for your service. I am echoing what the gentleman that spoke just said. I am not upset with the South Jordan increase, I am upset with the school district, and I thought it was going to here tonight because on this form they sent me, it is on the same page. I appreciate your service, and I think you’re doing a wonderful job with the city. I love South Jordan, but my taxes are going up $655 from last year, and I don’t think it is right; that is more than a 17% increase in one year. I am on a fixed income, but like I said, I don’t blame you. Tanni Barker (Resident) - It is my pleasure to join with you tonight and listen to the presentations. I am grateful for the work you do, I know this is not easy work, and I know that you grapple with these issues hour after hour after hour. I know that you live in South Jordan and pay the same taxes we do. About eight years ago when I decided to build a home, I looked all over the Wasatch Front, and unlike some people, one of the things I looked at was the taxes that would be paid in the city that I was choosing to live in. I looked at the taxes in South Jordan, and I picked South Jordan as a place to build my home and I am grateful for the efforts you have made to keep our taxes low. Today I pay a lower tax rate than when I moved to the city, though my overall taxes are higher. I am grateful for that, I am grateful for the effort you put into our water and making sure we have safe drinking water, the beautiful parks that we have in our city, obviously the public safety and the streets. So, today I just really came here to thank you for the hard work you’ve done, thank you for keeping our taxes low, thank you for the efforts you make on behalf of our residents to talk to the school district because, mayor, I know you’ve been there, and I have been there to comment on some of those things. I appreciate your representation and just wanted to come tonight and thank you for the hard work and let you know I am very supportive of this increase and the efforts you have made on behalf of the residents. South Jordan City 5 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Gary Garner (Resident) - I have lived here for about 35 years, so I have seen a lot of change in those amount of times. I see on the news that credit card debt is at an all-time high, people are trying to live off their credit cards. I am paying over $330 a month in taxes just to live here, and that’s more than I pay for utilities, garbage, heat, light, everything; I have a hard time fathoming that. You guys talk about being the lowest taxes, I think a chart went up where we were about the fourth lowest in the valley, and I like competition. I am wondering why aren’t we the lowest. Has anybody here gone to Sandy, who seems to be the lowest, or Draper, and said “what are you doing, what was your best practice, why are you able to hold taxes lower than South Jordan;” I think that’s something that we ought to do. I am grateful for the fire department, they carried my wife out of our house one day in an emergency call to the hospital after she had surgery, possibly saved her life, and I am grateful for that. I am grateful for the police services too. I see the police running around in brand new pickups, big gas guzzling four-wheel drive pickups; I don’t understand why we aren’t running around in cars. Some of the hiring practices I don’t understand. Your newsletter came out a few years ago and you hired a garbage inspector, somebody that goes around and sticks his head in trash cans and tells us whether we are recycling correctly or not. A few years ago, two or three people were hired for the city park police, and I am wondering why we need special police to man our parks. Are they still here? Overall, I know it’s not your fault, but you’re getting our vent and I thank you for your service and I’d love to see you look at it a little deeper to see what you can do to cull those taxes down, maybe get it to be the lowest one because Draper I think is roughly equivalent to this city. Troy Teeples (Resident) - You know we have got high inflation, we are in a terrible economy, we are in a recession. We tighten our belts, I tighten my belt and my family. I work for a company, we tighten our belt, and we lay a few people off. I heard a lot about wants and a lot about things that we think we need, but I didn’t hear anything about cuts. How about each department of the city take a little bit of a budget cut this year, because we have got some tough times. If there is waste, it can be cut, so let’s do it. I go to the parade every year, I look at these police vehicles, these great big armored things. My goodness, what those must cost, do we need such armored vehicles in this city, and are we that dangerous of a people. Do we need a hook and ladder long fire truck; probably, because we have such a huge city hall. My house has increased in value, gee, I’d like to move out of here, but I can’t because if I sold the house I can’t afford to go anywhere else. Tighten your belt, try a little harder and tighten your belt. Jeff Matson (Resident) - I have been a homeowner for about a year now. My wife and I, we are displaced Californians just like many other people. I work as a chiropractor in Taylorsville. My wife, she is a teacher, she has a specialization in Autism; she just hung up her hat to take care of our one month old daughter so I promise to keep this short and keep it light so I can get home. My message is probably more directed towards the school board and representatives who I thought might be here tonight, so my apologies for my sleepless nights and I’m just a tired dad. You know, my increase of 23% towards schools and Jordan School District, I just don’t understand it, and just don’t see it. I was just casually looking at the Department of Education, showing that an average of 50% - 60% aren’t meeting the literacy rate, You have students that are coming out of schools illiterate, they are depressed, with social anxiety disorders. I have to South Jordan City 6 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 treat some of those patients with chiropractic care because they are being inundated with medications and treatments that just aren’t working. The school was asking for more money, and I understand if that has to follow a traditional inflation rate of 3.5% - 3%, and maybe some years 5%, and I understand that there is funding that has to go to that and help our kids. However, for some of these families playing the violin song and saying “it’s for our kids,” I am an associate chiropractor, only in practice for three years; I can’t ask my boss for a 23% increase in income, he’d slap me. Last year I treated about 15,000 patients, and I go through probably 300-400 office visits a week. I used to work in a higher volume practice last year, and I was seeing anywhere from 68 patients a day, many who were parents, many who were children, some of them autistic, some of them with social anxiety disorders and depression as mentioned. I just don’t see it, teachers don’t go to school to make money and his wife will attest to that, they do it to go to their classroom so they can see their smiling children. You ask any teacher in this state or out of state, it is never about money. We never did this to get rich, we did it to serve, and for a school district in one year to ask for a 23% increase, that is just outstanding and unfortunate. I know you can only do so much, but I just really hope you look at that and really take it for what it is because what is it going to be next year, and the near after. Darryl Barnes (Resident) - I appreciate all of your service, it was very good to hear both chiefs talk about those budget requirements. As I listened to everyone, it would be nice if the citizens had a chance to come to a meeting like this, and then prepare as a citizen group to come back and do our presentation as to why we are for or against, because we are all going to be disjointed in our communication and fractured. There is no one here that doesn’t want better fire services or better police. We are fortunate enough to live in a city, and that’s why I chose here with my wife and my kids, because it is safe. It’s not the police alone that make it safe, it’s our economics. I live in a place where the incomes are fairly high, so the economics serve the safety, and the police are the perimeter. So, because economics are so good, crime is so low. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t infiltrate at certain points in time, but I have a lot less concern about crime, that’s why I live in South Jordan; it’s not because of our police, who do a great job by the way. I look at these homes, I have a nice home and I am thankful and blessed to have it and great neighbors, but I am almost going to pay $1000 more this year in property taxes. I look at all the other people that live in the same community, and surrounding communities, and I think to myself I am fortunate, but most people’s salaries aren’t aligned to their increase in property taxes. So, property taxes are going up, but they aren’t going to get a raise, so how do they adjust. They can’t sell, because they can’t go buy as Troy Teeples said, and so we are in this situation where, yes, our chiefs have to make tough decisions, and hopefully lives aren’t lost as a result of that. However, in the same way, we all have to tighten our belt as Mr. Teeples said, because I am not going to get a 25% increase to cover it, and I know most of you aren’t going to get it either, but we have to serve the community. If we can keep our economics right, if the mayor continues to do what she does, and the council members continue to make the hard decisions to make sure the community continues to grow and prosper, our economics are good, the combination of that with the technology the police chief talked about will become a much greater factor. With police officers, I always thinks they have a hard job, but we are going to give them more money. Maybe I will talk to the police chief after, but do the requirements change, do we get a better candidate South Jordan City 7 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 for that more money; I hope so, or we will have more police and more tension in the community, and that doesn’t serve the community. Cameron Harris (Resident) – I have a ton of notes because my brain is an invention brain, it wonders and invents, and I work in healthcare. I have done EMS, I haven’t had the opportunity to be a police officer, but I don’t think I want it. I have had the opportunity to work in healthcare my whole life, and manage large companies; at this point I am currently overseeing 21 assisted livings nationwide. The pain is real that you guys are suffering, it’s the same pain that we suffer running a business, and labor costs are skyrocketing; I totally agree with you guys. There is one thing that I really haven’t heard that I’ve had to explore, how is it that EMS is generating more revenue; how are we going to generate more revenue as EMS to help cover those costs. Gold Cross and others are subcontractors provide EMS services that go into business to make money by providing these services to our cities. So, how is it that an EMS branch of our government is not covering their costs. Are we not capturing enough revenue, are we not capturing it thoroughly, are we only capturing 80% or 60% of it. Do we have wasteful use in medical supplies. There is a lot we can look at in the EMS side of the spectrum that would definitely help. I’m sure it’s being looked at, but I have had to get creative, and I have had to look at that as well with my companies and definitely we have investors and things we have to protect. We have made it work, and we haven’t really had to do much except get creative on the EMS side. The police force is an expense, but is there also ways to generate revenue by subcontracting out our police service. Maybe it will require us to hire a few more police officers, but could we make money subcontracting our efforts out a little bit more; marketing that and selling that service maybe to private or commercial industries, possibly to cities in need, to make a little bit of money that way. Sales tax was 41% of our revenue for the city, I missed the other percentages and I wish I could see those; hopefully, you will be able to show me in a second. Are we attracting additional businesses so we can increase our sales tax base, what incentives are we doing to increase our sales tax base; that’s hard, because that’s a long term goal. I have many additional thoughts, but let’s see if we can generate some revenue and make some money through these quality men that are serving our community, because we have something that we can offer that other cities don’t, and that our citizens might be interested in contracting out. Curtis Schaefermeyer (Resident) – We have only lived here for four years, so we are used to things as they are going along here, getting comfortable, but my taxes this year like everyone else’s have gone up 25%, so $1100 is what I have to come up with somehow. I went and told my boss “hey, I need a 25% raise,” so I think that’s coming pretty soon here, and I’m glad I have a good boss to help me out with that. With the police department, my neighbor is Darryl Barnes and he is my police department. He has cameras set up, he invested in that technology, so if he sees something he alerts me about it. He is helping me with it, and now the police don’t have to come and take care of me, I have my neighbors looking after me to help me out. I do appreciate having them to call for police and fire, if there is a bigger issue that they need to come out and help me with. To me, taxes need to go up, I know this has to happen and they have to increase, but to me it’s a disservice if it doesn’t go up an amount we can budget for; if it just all of a sudden explodes, it’s like we’re behind what we are budgeting for it, we choose not to raise South Jordan City 8 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 them, and then a big raise all at one time that people can’t budget for. My trouble is that it’s a giant increase all at once. What I would like to take away from this is that if I call the county up and say “I’m Curt Schaefermeyer, can you fix my taxes, can you lower this and do this,” they will say thanks and see you later. You have these titles, use your titles, go up and talk to them for us, plead for us and say “I am the mayor” or “I am a council member,” and they will listen to you guys more than they will listen to me. Barton Thacker (Resident) – I wasn’t going to speak today, but as I watched the presentation I thought “I’m a little worried about a city council approving a budget today,” so I thought I’d better get up and share a couple of insights that I had as I watched that because I do have a problem with a 14% raise. I do understand that counties listen to cities like cities listen to counties and school districts. They always come and say “the cities are all telling us…” so if they listen then, they should listen other times too; maybe they don’t, but they should at least listen, and so should the cities. My understanding, as I looked at that first presentation, and maybe I misunderstood, was that it doesn’t include inflation, growth and level of service. Inflation makes sense, I’m a numbers guy and inflation makes sense because if you get the oranges from Florida, or the produce from California, what influence does South Jordan have on that, pretty much zero; that makes sense to exclude that. Then you look at growth, and I pulled up a few websites, one being Fortune Finder, and it shows that in the nation, the fifth fastest growing city is South Jordan. That is not standard, that is not normal for the nation, so to exclude growth in your revenue projections is a flaw in the data, a flaw in the analysis, and it leads to bad budgets. Here is the thing, what I am hearing from the fire station and the police is that we are growing, and everything I look at says that they are right. So, we are going to include those in the expenses, but we are not going to include them in the revenue; that’s bad accounting, we can’t include one on one side and not the other, that doesn’t make sense. That means we have incomplete data you are basing your budget on, as well as this 14%, and let’s talk about that. According to Daybreak’s website, they say that in 2022 South Jordan had just under 15% growth. Well of course you’re short at 14%, you just grew almost 15% and you are short, that makes sense. However, the answer is not to look at hitting more property taxes, the answer is to look at your formula, because your account is out of balance. You are counting growth on the expense side, but not on the revenue side; no wonder you’re short. You could easily go back to the county and say that last year we had almost 15% of a raise, we don’t need the 14%, we will just take increased revenue coming in. If I look at 15%, the growth rate for this next year, even at the 15% that is more than what the tax increase is. I don’t think the county commissioners are made of stone. I think those people, who were also elected, want to show they listen to the cities. I think that’s why the county sent us all these notices saying the decision makers are here on this night, because the decision makers are here, because you can influence the county, the schools; whether they listen to you or not is their choice, but they are elected too so they have to do that as well. I just want to point out that if you are going to include the growth on the expense side, you have to include it on the revenue side too; I think your logic is flawed and it scares me to pass a budget based on incomplete data, incomplete analysis, and I think that leads to bad decisions. South Jordan City 9 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Dean Brink (Resident) - I was not going to speak, but my seat neighbor said “we are not leaving until you get up.” I live in the Daybreak area, and I haven’t heard too many people really give you some good data; at least I hope it’s good from my point of view. When I got my tax notice, I started going on the county website, as anybody can do, and we can get information around the entire county. I did a lot of researching; let me tell you what I came up with. A neighbor of mine, who is in the same house, by the same builder and same model, the only difference being he has a larger lot size than I do but our homes are the same; his city tax rate went up 9%. My taxes are going up 18%, what happened. Another neighbor in my area, his home was 1000 square feet bigger than mine, on a lot size that is twice the size of mine, his property taxes were $2 more than what I am going to pay; where are these inconsistencies coming from. I started doing more research, and the more I did, the more confused I got as to it being all over the place. Another area in Daybreak, one of the retirement communities, has two homes side by side, on the same lot size, with one having a finished basement with five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The one next door has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, guess which one is valued higher by the county, the two bedroom by $65,000 more. I have been to the county office twice, and they were very nice, but they could not give me an answer to anything. I am only telling you this much of what I found out, it is all over the place. I have another neighbor two houses down from me, same model as mine, the only difference is that again his lot size is about double my size and we have the same square footage; my home is valued $70,000 higher than his, and I am finding this all over. I don’t know what’s going on, but we have truth in taxation, how about fairness in taxation, that would be better I would think. I was looking at homes at random, then I started going through multiple cities, not just the Daybreak area, to include Cottonwood Heights, Sandy, West Valley and I am finding these all over. There were no consistencies, homes that were much smaller were valued considerably higher than the homes right in their neighborhood that were bigger; they are paying more taxes. My home value went up more with this new increase than the last five years combined, actually $36,000 more than the last five years combined; I am not sure that is justifiable. Any of you can do this research, I did it and it is insane what you find, and it makes no sense. Michael Richards (Resident) – Not only am I a resident of the city here, but I also am the Administrative Division Chief for the fire department; I have a unique opportunity to see the behind the scenes on a day to day basis of what it takes to provide the great services that we as residents enjoy here in South Jordan. I am grateful for the mayor and the city council, for your priority in making sure that we have a safe community to live in and to raise our kids in. Public Safety departments for the city strive to provide the highest level of services to our community, which I think both chiefs have done a great job of demonstrating and telling us about today. I can speak to this, not only from my professional side working in the fire department, but also as a resident. I have needed to use public safety a variety of times in the six years that I have lived here, and I can attest to the high level of service and quality employees that we have. The city provides our employees with great equipment that both chiefs talked about, and top level services. The cost of everything is going up, and that includes the cost of equipment and everything needed to provide these services. As a resident who will be paying for this tax increase myself, I just want to say that I fully support, and would encourage all residents to South Jordan City 10 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 support it; to allow the city to continue to provide these excellent services that we as residents enjoy here in our city, and to continue to employ the high caliber of employees that we have here. Christopher Wright (Resident) – Like Chief Richards, I also live in the city; I live just across from Daybreak Elementary. I have been with the fire department for 15 years now, and every firefighter I know loves being public servants, that’s what we do. We love serving you guys, the citizens, you are our people. Some people sacrifice relationships unfortunately at home, they put their whole life into this job and we have the best equipment. I have worked at other fire departments part time, and the investment in quality equipment that you get, a quality service so if you have to call 911 you know you guys are getting the best staff, the best equipment, and the best trained personnel. I have kids, and I know for a fact if I call 911 I want the best, and the best way to do that is through the best training, best equipment and the support of the city council and our citizens. I would say I support this and I love living in South Jordan. My wife grew up in Glenmoor Village, I grew up in Taylorsville, two completely different cities, and we just got back from California where we were at the beach for a week. My son, who is 11, had been bodysurfing and other stuff in a beautiful place, and when he got home he said “dad, I just love being home, I just feel safe.” What better thing can you have as a parent than when your kids feel safe in the city that you live in. I support this, and thank you. Mayor Ramsey closed the comments portion of the public hearing. Council Member Shelton asked staff to address Mr. Thacker’s concerns on growth, which were incorrect. CFO Naidu said on one of his slides from Attachment A, it showed the new growth revenue generated from property taxes alone was $614,000, with everything else combined being $2.7 million; all together, that came out to be about $3 million. He has been with South Jordan City for 22 years, and in the past they have always projected based on where they are, how the data has looked in the past, and what they expect in regards to growth. Director of Commerce Brian Preece explained to Mr. Naidu that he believes Mr. Thacker’s message was that we are not including the increase in tax rate into the formula. In addition, at the county and state level, the growth is not included in the tax rate formula; however, they do apply that tax rate to the new value that comes in and we did get $600,000 in taxes from that. The new growth isn’t included when they are creating the certified tax rate. Mr. Thacker said something from the audience and asked if he could approach the podium again. Mayor Ramsey noted that was against protocol, but she wants to make sure his question is addressed. She thinks there might be a little bit of confusion on his end and she wants to make sure they answer the question correctly. Mr. Thacker said my confusion was on the one slide where it said “we don’t include growth, we don’t include inflation, and the service level.” That’s what I think is the problem. So, on the expense side we are including growth, we are including a new fire station, new officers. Why are South Jordan City 11 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 they there, because we have more people to service; that’s growth. The 2020 census said Salt Lake County stayed pretty much flat, so if you have got these cities growing like crazy, what’s the rest of the county doing. South Jordan is not normal, you can’t say this is a trend across the state, because the census says otherwise; the census says South Jordan is unique, so it has to include growth because that’s what they are asking for. They are asking for raises because they want to keep officers, but they are also saying “we are growing, and we need extra services,” so we are putting growth on the expense side. The revenue side may include the extra taxes, but that’s not growth. CFO Naidu referred back to his presentation (Attachment A) regarding how the tax rate is calculated, and noted that did not include growth, inflation or increase in level of service. If we want to have those increases, that is when we need to do what we are doing tonight, a Truth in Taxation to include all those things. Today, if we were to ask for all those growth related expenses, he doesn’t think anybody would be happy; Jordan School District would not even come close to what we would be asking for if we were to address all those issues. In a way, we are addressing that by not providing services somewhere else. He met with Public Works last week, and just a few years ago we did a collective fence repair that cost us around $500,000. We saved over $200,000 a year for the same span of fence in a different part of the city so we could do another portion of the fence this year. We bid that project out, and the bid came back to be $1.8 million for the same span of fence, and we can’t do it. So, what do we do, we can only do what we can afford to do. City Manager Gary Whatcott added that we follow the state tax code, and how the county assessor figures the rate doesn’t include new growth. New growth comes after the rate, and then you get it the following year. New growth is calculated in our estimates that is the $600,000 CFO Naidu was talking about. We have been seeing that new growth is mostly household growth, mostly residential growth, which has a 45% discount to it, that’s why the number is smaller. If it was all commercial, or we all paid 100% of our tax notice, than that growth number would be much larger and we would really see more of the definite adjustment because of growth. Due to that discount, and the lag created by being calculated in the next year’s rate is where we see that. Council Member Shelton brought up Mr. Carter’s question regarding why we aren’t the lowest tax rate. He believes we aren’t the lowest because of the commercial to residential mix that we have in our city. We have much less commercial than a city like Sandy has for example. Also, Mr. Harris had asked what we are doing to increase the revenue; we are actively trying to change that mix of commercial to residential with all kinds of strategies to get more commercial and sales tax revenue. Manager Whatcott also added that the state, in last year’s legislature, took away the city’s ability to incentivize any new retail business. There is no longer a way to bring a car dealership over and provide a tax break or other incentive, so we have to look at other creative models to try and adjust for trying to get more businesses in through different ways. South Jordan City 12 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Mayor Ramsey asked Chief Dawson to address Mr. Harris’s question about why EMS doesn’t generate more revenue, because that was part of his presentation (Attachment C), explaining that our EMS is doing more to generate revenue than most. Chief Dawson said he would be shocked to find out that there is any other fire-based EMS in the state that generates, per capita, more than we do. In the three and a half years he has been the chief here, we have increased our IFT revenues from about a half a million dollars a year to about $2.5 million. We have also increased our 911 revenue by an additional $300,000, that’s at about $1.5 million dollars, which offsets our budget significantly. They are doing everything in their power to capitalize on those things to offset their budget. A lot of that comes with the balance that they have been able to define, as was mentioned in his presentation. That revenue from IFTs is not coming from taxpayer pockets, and the 911 revenue has collection rates that are industry average or possibly a little better than industry average. They have done some things with billing to increase efficiencies there that have increased revenues to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars just in efficiencies alone. The bulk of that revenue is coming from the Interfacility Transports (IFT) coming out of the hospital system, and those are direct pay through the hospitals, not a burden on our community. Manager Whatcott added one of the problematic issues we have is that our population is aging, and the more people we have on social security and Medicare, the more billing we have paid at the pre-established discounted rates. We don’t get the full amount we bill for EMS, as we have to pay whatever the Medicare rate is, and that pays at a significantly reduced rate compared to the actual bill. Council Member Marlor said we are also constrained because a former City Council group many years ago decided to move the boundaries of South Jordan from State Street to I-15. You can imagine what we lost, all of the car dealerships and the Southtowne Mall sales tax. The border of South Jordan was also moved from 9000 South to 9400 South, which means we lost all the commercial business on the south side of 9000 South. That was all done to essentially thwart all this nasty commercial that was starting to creep into our city, and those actions have created the constraints we have now. We are doing the best with what we’ve got today, but we would love to have all that sales tax. If residents are wondering why Sandy generates a little bit more sales tax, it’s because we forfeited all of our sales tax to them. Mayor Ramsey said we have lost all the sales tax from the north and south ends, the residents of the city didn’t want any of the commercial in the city back then, and it’s a price we are paying decades later. Also, in response to the question asking why we aren’t the lowest tax rate, it comes down to commercial. If you think about the businesses that have relocated in Draper, and have generated revenue as a result of having those businesses in Draper. We are doing everything we can to continue to provide opportunities, amenities, jobs, a sales tax base, retail, restaurants, and all the things in South Jordan. Also, service levels aren’t always the same across the board either, and some communities are having other challenges. One of the communities mentioned is doing a Truth in Taxation this year, one of those decided not to and they will have to do it next year. South Jordan City 13 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Council Member Harris wanted to address the police vehicles mentioned, one being the armored vehicle. He thinks that may have been the best deal on an armored vehicle in the state, as it was a surplus military vehicle. The costs were basically to ship it out here, and the city just had to do a little bit of retrofitting. A new vehicle like that costs several hundred thousand dollars, and this one cost us around $25,000 for an armored vehicle. We have used that in multiple situations where an armored vehicle was needed, and we got it for a very good deal. Council Member Shelton added that arguably, that vehicle has saved lives already. Chief Carr said it did save lives at that house with the explosives. Council Member Harris addressed the F150s that the police drive. They probably use more gas, but the Dodge Chargers have a lower resale value, and that’s where we are hit the hardest as we barely get anything when the Chargers are re-sold. In contrast, when we go to sell an F150, there is a lot of demand for that truck, so it has a much higher resale value. We come out much better after resale on those F150 trucks, and that’s one of the reasons our police department switched over to those. Manager Whatcott said another reason for the armored vehicle is for gaining entrance into a hot zone. If we had a school shooting, Uvalde is a great example of that where you have an active shooter inside and need to get trained paramedics in. Those paramedics can work with the police department inside via that armored unit. In researching these school shooter events, they have discovered that there are people still alive, but because of the delayed response in getting medical aid to them, they tend to die before the scene is secured. This vehicle gives us an opportunity to get into a hot zone while the active shooter is still active, while staying protected and rescuing people. That’s it’s primary use, it’s not because we live in such a high crime area that we need something like that, it actually has a dual purpose; the focus and reason we purchased it was for these active shooter zones where we can get medical aid to people while a shooter is still active. The goal of that vehicle is to save lives, not so much to be used as an aggressive tactical weapon; it is more of a rescue tool. Council Member Shelton addressed Mr. Teeples’ comment regarding each department of the city taking a cut. On the public safety side, there is not a chance he would support that. He has had paramedics at his home, coming to rescue a member of his family that was dying. They lived thank goodness, but he can say that the five to six, or however many minutes it was, was the longest five or six minutes of his life. There is no way he would vote to reduce budgets that would increase response times. If you had an intruder in your home and you had to wait 8.5 minutes that would be the longest 8.5 minutes of your life. An audience member yelled out to ask about administrative services. Council Member Shelton said that every other department is taking cuts, and has been taking cuts all along. When we don’t raise taxes and inflation goes up, and our growth isn’t covering the costs, those departments are taking cuts. We have been taking cuts all along, and this is just a little bit of the catching up we need to do. South Jordan City 14 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Council Member Marlor believes it was Mr. Schaefermeyer that mentioned it would be much easier if not just us as the city, but other entities collecting property taxes had more gradual increases. For the record, he personally supports that effort to have much smaller increases that we can all budget for, and he is hopeful that in the future that is something that we try to do. Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis noted that, as far as other departments go, he has spent a significant amount of time with department heads. While he is not asking them to cut, he is also not giving them the resources they need. Our Public Works Department needs over 40 people, and have asked for that over the last several years and we have not filled those positions. This is why you see a delayed response in mowing our parks, this is why you don’t see the pothole filled the same day it gets called in. Those positions are not being filled, and those are in essence cuts. Council Member Harris said he has recently gotten a number of residents making him aware of various needs in the city, and he has been forwarding those to Deputy Manager Lewis. One was an issue with park bathrooms, and that was sent on to Mr. Lewis. He has had people mention things about the condition of the grass, and the residents are reaching out to him with those expectations regarding keeping the city looking good. Unfortunately, we have had to make cuts in other areas, but we have staffed the police and fire very well. Some of the areas that have taking some of those cuts are the areas that have been on the maintenance side. We are rightfully focusing on public safety, but people want to have a well-maintained city, and we are receiving pressure from the residents of the city to maintain those things; we are trying to do that the best we can. Council Member McGuire said someone mentioned the garbage inspector, and it sounds silly, but the reason for that was to keep the cost of recycling down. Over the past five years, recycling has gone crazy with different countries no longer taking certain materials. In order to keep that cost down, they found they needed someone to go around and make sure the citizens were recycling properly. It has been explained that the F150s the police use have a higher resale value, but he noted that he believes they also provide better value for the police officers and their gear. Chief Carr said they do provide extra space, and they are also ergonomically better for the officers who get in and out of the car all the time, as climbing up is much easier on your knees than getting down into a vehicle. His understanding is that the operating costs are very similar, and we do better through the resale of those. Director of Public Works Jason Rasmussen said that is correct. The cost of ownership for the F150s is less per year than it is for the Chargers, and that’s data from our fleet manager. Council Member McGuire noted he wanted to go back to something that was mentioned earlier, that we follow priority based budgeting; where everything is inspected and examined and accounted for, to make sure we are getting the best value for it. In his professional job he is an Operations Director of a steel fabrication company. When working on the job, all his employees have a shop order number and they are required to write down how long they worked on that job. They do the same thing with material purchases, so everything is able to be tracked. With the propriety based budgeting, that is essentially what the city is doing as well. At the end, we can South Jordan City 15 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 look and make sure we are getting the best deal possible. He addressed Mr. Barnes and his comment about wishing citizens could hear a presentation tonight and then come back and present their side. The city does not offer a formal opportunity for residents to come back, but residents are invited to attend all of the budget meetings. They are all public meetings, and there are usually three or four a year. The public is also welcome to attend the meetings where the tentative budget is approved. There are opportunities for residents to be able to give input before the actual Truth in Taxation meeting, and he wanted Mr. Barnes and the residents in attendance to be aware of that. A comment was also made about dealing with the county assessor’s office, and he completely agrees with how difficult and confusing that can be. In his profession, the property they own saw its taxes doubled this year. They called the assessor’s office for greater clarification, but couldn’t get anything. He agrees that there needs to be better transparency, and that’s going to start with working with your state leaders and county leaders; that’s where all that stuff funnels down to everyone here in the city, as residents and the city in general. Mayor Ramsey added that South Jordan has a seat at more tables of what’s happening with the legislature in our state than any other city in the state. We have a lot of unique opportunities for our administrative staff, our council, and herself to be able to serve on committees and be a part of the process. They are doing everything they can to give South Jordan a voice, and to be at the table to hear what is happening. You have heard “if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” so we don’t want to be on the menu. They have worked tirelessly over the last five years to get South Jordan at every table; our staff, council and mayor serve at those tables and spend just as much time doing that as anything, and it is working. She serves as president of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, representing all 249 municipalities in the state, in addition to all of the other seats our city has secured. Council Member Marlor hopes everyone understands that the members of the council and the mayor are residents of South Jordan City; if they raise taxes, they are raising their own taxes as well. They try not to raise taxes, doing everything they can, and these department heads have done a great job, trying to do whatever they can to work within a budget that they are given. Many times those budgets are well below what is needed, and he appreciates all their hard work to keep costs down as much as possible. Council Member McGuire wanted to echo Council Member Shelton’s comments, that they fully support public safety, the city’s police and fire fighters. To say they have to take a 5% budget cut because they are making all the departments do something like that would be too dangerous, he is not going to play games with people’s lives. To simply say that everyone just needs to take a budget cut, he has never seen that work out successfully; it always backfires. It might be a few years down the road, but you always pay for it later. He also thinks residents need to understand that the council is very mindful of the level of service. They want to make sure South Jordan stays a nice place to live, a safe place to live; we don’t want to end up like some of the surrounding cities and in 10 years have to take out a $40 million bond just to fix our roads. We want to stay on top of things, be proactive and not reactionary to the issues in the city. He is grateful for city staff and all they’ve put together to help people understand the budget. Residents should know this budget doesn’t even begin to come close to funding the full staff needs, let South Jordan City 16 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 alone the wants or wish lists. Residents constantly say they want trail improvements, city park improvements, improvements to the I-15 off-ramp, to finish the Samuel E. Holt Farmstead building. The city has preserved a nice old house, but the inside is still gutted because we haven’t been willing to increase taxes to finish that renovation. As a result, staff continues to examine other ways to make that happen. We have residents that want a lap pool, a new senior center, additional parks throughout the city, and the list goes on and on. This proposed tax increase doesn’t even begin to take care of any of those wish list items. This truly is just to maintain our level of service that we have now, and it’s mostly aimed at our public safety. Mayor Ramsey added as Chief Carr was discussing some of the challenges they’ve had over the past year with public safety, since Taylorsville opened their police department, she realized that another challenge faced was one of the communities in Salt Lake County losing 100 officers due to the choices of their elected officials; that wouldn’t leave enough officers to leave any community safe. Their leaders knew that, and the crime rates started to skyrocket. In response to that, not only did they increase the salaries significantly, but they also offered a handsome bonus to any of their officers who could poach an officer from another department; that was the reality we were up against. As the chief said, picture yourself in your late 20s, and you get the chance for a $5000 bonus plus $6.00-$7.00 more an hour, which works out to $12,000 more a year. We’ve all been there, that’s real money and it adds up. It’s not that our officers didn’t like working here, it came down to the economic opportunities for their families and we had no choice but to respond to it, as did other cities around us. We are not even currently in the top five, but we are doing the best we can and our people are doing the best they can. Our leadership of the departments in the city are doing all they can to create a culture, because we want a culture here that makes people want to work her since we can’t pay them any more than we are. Council Member Zander hasn’t commented yet tonight, and she appreciated the comments from the other council members and the mayor. She noted that we heartily welcome residents’ attendance at City Council, and if you’re surprised by what’s happened, please come more often. Our meetings are always open, they are always open to the public and we want your ideas, and we appreciate your suggestions. When you come with ideas, that’s helpful; when you come and complain, not so helpful. Please come and point out some things you can give suggestions on to fix, but showing up with questions like many of you have that make sense are very much appreciated as well. The council, like the residents, live in the city. The council, like the residents, don’t want to waste money. The council, like the residents, are fiscally responsible. The council, like the residents, do not want to live in a city that lacks safety or the essential services. As has been said, the council’s taxes are going up as well, but that’s not the point; the point is, how we, together as a community continue to have South Jordan be the place we all want to choose to live. She has appreciated that dialogue, and the message she would like to share includes a few things: Come back, come back to City Council meetings, and come again often to listen to the dialogue and the challenges that they are facing every month. She has been in her position for six years, and they have talked about on the horizon, someday, having to raise taxes, and every year they very uncomfortably grapple with it. She addressed Mr. Teeples and noted that this isn’t something they just jumped in to. When you tell the city to tighten their belt, South Jordan City 17 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 we have been doing that for years, and she wanted to share that from the heart; that is not something the city takes lightly, and every one of the departments here comes to the council every year asking for personnel, many personnel, and they are never given what they ask for because they can’t. She appreciates our City Manager and this body, these staff members meet with the city manager and share their wish list. He then pares it down before he even comes to the council. If you don’t think that’s what happens, please start coming to the meetings and listening, because that is what is happening every year when the city prioritizes their budget. If she sounds intense, that’s because she is; this is not an easy job. They all ran for these positions because they care about our city, and they care about it passionately. She loves this city, and she has so much respect for those who serve in our city. When she was first elected six years ago she didn’t understand a portion of what she understands today in regards to what is put in to the services of the city. Please come back with your ideas, and don’t accuse us of not tightening our budget, because that’s not the case. In addition, back in 2021 when our police chief came to the council urgently and said they were about to lose officers, they had to make a very tough decision in that meeting. As the mayor mentioned, there were cities in our county that were offering huge bonuses and extending huge efforts to recapture the officers that they had pushed away because of their behavior; we did not want to lose officers in our city, so an emergency decision was made to raise the budget for our police officers. That budget can’t be maintained unless at some point taxes are raised, and the council has grappled with that. She is very proud of what they have come up with today. In the Truth in Taxation Focus article, it says the average home of $500,000 is paying $49.22 more this year. Many people came here upset because of the other taxes and other burdens that have been placed on you; that is not us, and she feels that pain as well. She is a big fan of the school system, and she doesn’t know what they have been through because she hasn’t been to their meetings. She is not going to complain to them because she hasn’t sat through what they have. She could call them and ask questions, just like residents came tonight to ask questions; that is the type of government we have, it is of the people. Ask your elected officials questions respectfully, and she has appreciated the dialogue had tonight. Again, she invites everyone to attend the meetings, speak with your elected officials; that’s why we have the system of government we have. She appreciates all the hard work that has gone into this evening, there has been a lot of work done for the presentations everyone saw tonight, as well as the information shared with the public. She stands behind this, it was not easy to come up with this and they have worked on it for many, many months. They have spent years thinking about doing this, and how to do it right. Council Member Shelton also appreciates everyone coming tonight, and it’s fabulous to have everyone here sharing their thoughts and concerns. We don’t realize how rare that ability is, because we have the ability and we always have, but there are a lot of places he has visited on this planet where citizens could not do this; he is grateful we live in a place where we can share our opinions. He appreciates staff, especially our CFO Sunil Naidu and our police and fire chief, for their work in preparing these presentations. He appreciates all of our department heads who work really hard to produce the remarkable place that we live, on a challenging budget. He also appreciated the information that was put out to our various media sources, it was excellent work. South Jordan City 18 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Mayor Ramsey echoed what has been said and reiterated that they tried very hard. She appreciated the suggestion that was made about doing raises incrementally so they could be budgeted for. Being honest, she said that no one ever wants to have to raise taxes, as those making that decision have to pay those taxes as well. None of them ran hoping they would ever have to raise taxes; they all came in with the vision that they would find ways to get around that. They have been well educated and been part of a comprehensive process the entire time they’ve been here, and since way before they got there. Nobody wants to have to do this, which is why the city has actually waited too long to do it. She mentioned West Valley City, Provo City, where they have started doing a Truth in Taxation hearing every year, even if they are not changing anything about the tax rate or the change is extremely small. They started doing this because it is hard to do, and it is hard to ask people for an increase. If it’s for something far more nominal that might not be as impactful on a resident’s budget, there is a lot of value to that. It means that the elected officials sit in the hot seat every year, which is not an easy thing. That is something our city has talked about and West Jordan has done three of in the last four or five years, making the increases more nominal. Our increase is lower than a lot of places. She met with a woman today who lives in South Salt Lake, her property taxes for the city of South Salt Lake went up by 110% last week. They have grappled with whether or not to start something like this, even if they aren’t changing the tax rate, doing it every year so people are more used to it and when it does have to change the city isn’t holding on until it’s a larger amount. She saw residents nodding in the audience, and said that is very helpful feedback for them because it’s something they are struggling with. She also added that if they were to just maintain this year the same tax rate that we had last year, the city would end up collecting a 22.2% increase instead of the current 14%. On the slides in Attachment A, it was shown how much the rates have gone down every year. She also looked at each city’s specific rate, and there are big differences, but she wants everyone to understand that the rates have gone down quite a bit, and we are still behind even with this raise. The council decided on how much they could stomach raising the amounts, and that amount was given to staff to work within. This meeting has been focused on public safety, but she would be remiss if she did not point out all the other department heads, especially Director Rasmussen and our Parks and Streets, and Public Works who have gone without the staff they need and without that additional help, causing them to do the work of 1.5 to two employees each to help maintain our service levels. He didn’t get a chance to present tonight about the realities of what he is not getting funded for, but it’s true and they are working so hard. Council Member Zander wanted to clarify regarding the question about the county assessments. If you have a county assessment that you don’t agree with, you can contest that with the county. She did it many years ago and was successful. That is a process that anyone can do with comps of surrounding properties. Council Member Shelton motioned to approve Resolution R2022-33, Adopting a final budget, making appropriations for the City of South Jordan for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2022 and ending June 30, 2023. Council Member McGuire seconded the motion; Roll Call vote was 5-0, unanimous in favor. South Jordan City 19 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Council Member McGuire reminded everyone that the conversation doesn’t have to stop tonight, and it shouldn’t stop tonight. If anyone has concerns or ideas going forward, they can contact a council member and start a conversation. Residents can also call Mr. Naidu and he will go over the budget with them. The conversation is ongoing, and they are here to make South Jordan better. Mayor Ramsey said that South Jordan was one of the first cities to implement priority based budgeting, and one of the only cities still doing it. The economy recovered and people went back to their previous budgeting practices for their organizations and municipalities. When the mayor was first elected, she had a lot of people asking her what happened to the Miss South Jordan pageant, why don’t we have it anymore and what they can do to bring it back. That’s one of the programs that, due to priority based budgeting, they had to say there was no value for the cost of the program to the residents of the city and it had to go; we are the only city in the area that doesn’t do a pageant, but that’s one of the things that was cut. It’s those kinds of programs that many consider a part of the culture of our society, but for the reasons above we decided to end. Same with the South Jordan Marathon, it wasn’t a financial priority. Many more people participated in the 5K races, so they’ve strengthened the 5K programs and offered a race each month while eliminating the marathon which costed us money we didn’t have to spend on people who didn’t even live in our city. Council Member Marlor motioned to recess the City Council Meeting and move to a Redevelopment Agency Meeting. Council Member Harris seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. RECESS CITY COUNCIL MEETING AND MOVE TO REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETING G.2. Resolution RDA 2022-07, Adopting a Final Budget for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of South Jordan, Utah for the fiscal year 2022-2023. RCV (By CFO Sunil Naidu) CFO Naidu reviewed background information from the Staff Report. Chair Ramsey opened the public hearing for comments. There were no comments and the hearing was closed. Board Member Marlor motioned to approve Resolution RDA 2022-07, Adopting a final budget for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of South Jordan for the fiscal year 2022- 2023. Board Member Zander seconded the motion; Roll Call vote was 5-0, unanimous in favor. Board Member Harris motioned to adjourn the Redevelopment Agency Meeting and return to the City Council Meeting. Board Member McGuire seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. ADJOURN REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETING AND RETURN TO CITY COUNCIL MEETING H. Staff Reports and Calendaring Items South Jordan City 20 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting August 16, 2022 Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis noted that they did not vote on a budget for the MBA tonight, as that has been closed out with all the debts paid. City Attorney Ryan Loose will send an update to the council on the legislative session tomorrow, and he is reaching out to Representative Teuscher, along with several others, to work out dates to meet with our council. He will send out those dates and those council members that are available to go are welcome to join them. Mayor Ramsey said the League is doing “Lunch with the League,” and it will be the first and third Tuesdays of the month. It is an online webinar with experts discussing different topics. The one coming up the first week of September is one they really recommend staff be a part of; it is part of the $500,000 grant that was given from IHC to the League, and another $500,000 to WFRC. Zion’s Bank and Zion’s Public Finance are also working on that, and Scott Anderson from Zion’s Bank is coming to speak at the League Conference about it. IHC and Zion’s Bank really want to help work towards determinants of public health. There are a lot of municipalities in the state that don’t know what land they own, so this money is being granted to work and try to help provide planning resources to these communities so they understand the land they have and how that can affect public health. Council Member McGuire motioned to adjourn the City Council meeting. Council Member Zander seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. ADJOURNMENT The August 16, 2022 City Council meeting adjourned at 10:05 p.m. This is a true and correct copy of the August 16, 2022 Combined City Council & Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes, which were approved on September 6, 2022. South Jordan City Recorder 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.  SOUTH JORDAN POLICE DEPARTMENT Police Chief - 1 Executive Assistant -1 Technical Services - 1 Deputy Chief- 1 Lieutenant - 1 Lieutenant-1 Lieutenant -1 Special Services Division Patrol Division Investigations Division Sergeant - 1 Sergeants - 4 Sergeants -2 Traffic Unit - 3 Patrol Officers - 25 Investigations Unit - 8 Sergeant - 1 Homeland Security - ILO School Resource Unit - 6 Crossing Guards – 26 (13 subs) Other Units Civilian Supervisor -1 COP/Special Events/PIO SWAT Team Property and Evidence Unit -1 K-9 Unit -2 Crime Scene Response Sergeant - 1 Training Unit Civilian Supervisor -1 Animal Services – 3 Victim Services Unit -1 Civilian Supervisor -1 Other Units Support Services Unit – 2.5 Crisis Negotiation Unit Current Officers 58 Honor Guard Unit Other Units In Training 3 Peer Support Unit Public Order Unit Military Leave 2 Offers 4 Vacant 2 Vacant (new allocations FY23) 3 Total Allocations 72 Taylorsville Starts a Police Department • June 2021: Media (City Journals) reports Taylorsville was “flooded” with 170 applications • “Generally officers are earning $27-$37 per hour, depending on years of experience. (Chief) Cottam reports that other law enforcement agencies start offers as low as $20 per hour.” • “One of the primary reasons the (Taylorville) city council voted…to leave UPD was its feeling the….agency was not doing enough to keep staff salaries competitive” • 20+ officers left West Valley Police Department for Taylorsville • West Valley responds with higher pay, luring some officers back • Salt Lake City responds with higher pay • Every city in Salt Lake County scrambles to increase pay to keep their officers  Personnel Issues • Personnel • June 2021: SJPD starting wage was $21 per hour ($43,680 a year). • $6 an hour ($12,480 a year) behind Taylorsville, West Valley, and Salt Lake • 6-7 officers were exploring moving to those agencies • Every agency in Salt Lake County made significant investments in retaining officers and we increased our pay to $27 per hour • Agencies targeted experienced police officers • Because we have a young well-trained workforce we were especially at risk (young officers lose less in seniority when joining another agency) • 40 officers hired to fill various vacancies since 2016 • 20 officers with less than 3 years with the department • June 2022: SJPD found we were more than $3 an hour ($6,240 a year) behind other agencies • Another adjustment was made to ensure we stayed competitive  Costs and Candidates • Cost to hire & train a new police officer = $164,050 • General lack of applicants exacerbated the problem • Applications tripled from 23 a month to 74 and 63 in August/September after pay adjustment • Time required to train new officers (approximately 1 year) • Hiring Process (Two (2) Interviews, Physical Fitness Test, Background, Psychological, Truth Detection, Medical Exam) • Police Academy (limited/crowded classes) 4 months • Field Training – 4 months • Four (4) officers from other states (Nevada, S. Dakota, Arizona, Washington) • Liability of less experienced officers • 20 officers with less than 3 years with the department • Valley Emergency Communication Center (VECC) cost up $139,000 • Crossing Guards cost up $148,000 • Operations Budget - large cost increases for everything from gas to bullets, especially with technology systems like body cameras  Mitigating Costs and Finding Efficiencies • Examining Services • Eliminated vehicle lockouts (445 in 2015) • Modified our response to residential alarms (710 in 2018) • Modified our response to mental health calls • Offer on-line reporting (self-service) that will get better • Use of technology like drones (diagram accidents, search a field) • Other services could be considered in the future • Examining Duties • Civilianized (1) officer position in technical services (quartermaster, accreditation, body camera requests) • Eliminated (3) officers in the court and contracted security • Eliminated (1) full-time DARE officer and required middle school SRO’s to teach DARE to their feeder elementary schools Population, Officers, Crime Rate City *Population *Officers Officers per Thousand (OPT) *Crime Rate Salt Lake City 202187 506 2.50 82.21 South Salt Lake 25816 70 2.71 100.91 West Valley 135887 217 1.60 38.25 Murray 49169 77 1.57 70.92 Cottonwood Heights 33871 41 1.20 28.58 West Jordan 117955 128 1.08 27.52 South Jordan 80090 69 0.86 19.17 Sandy 97091 120 1.23 32.46 Draper 49326 44 0.89 24.43 Riverton 45095 36 0.79 13.62 Herriman 56312 41 0.72 9.41 *Population and Crime rate figures from Crime in Utah report 2020 *Officer counts from VECC  South Jordan Police Department Officers Per Thousand (OPT) • 2017 Population = 70,312 • 2017 Officers = 59 • 2017 OPT= .84 • 2022 Population = 83,135 • 2022 Officers = 69 • 2022 OPT = .83 In July 2022, 3 new officer allocations were added Population estimate = 86,313 Officers = 72 OPT = .83 Another way of thinking about this is for every 1,000 people we add to the city, we need almost one officer to maintain current service levels assuming nothing changes  South Jordan Police Officer Future Needs Estimated Build-out Population in 2035 = 127,330 Blue Line -115 Officers = .90 OPT (adding 3.5 officers per year) Red-Dotted Line – 98 Officers = .77 OPT (adding 2 officers per year)  Historical Trends Frequency and Types of Calls • Domestic Violence • 2015 = 137 • 2021 = 415 • Shootings • 2019 – 1 • 2020 – 4 • 2021 – 5 (1 OICI) • 2022 – 2 (1 OICI) year to date • Mental Health Calls  Adding Officers to the Street • When we have two (2) multiple-officer calls simultaneously happening it stretches our capability to respond • Examples • Mountain-view injury accident (5 officers) with domestic violence call holding • Wire theft in progress and active domestic violence call • It is not uncommon to be holding multiple calls with no available units • The City must add about 5.5 officers before the city realizes one additional patrol position 24-7-365  Crime Rate and Police Incidents Crime Rate Police Incidents 30 40000 38954 24.96 25 20.56 38000 36764 36366 19.17 20 36000 15.26 33395 15 34000 32936 10 32000 5 30000 0 28000 2017 2018 2019 2020 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 • When demand for service outpaces our ability to deliver service: • Increased response times for priority calls • Longer wait times for non-priority calls • Less investigative success as caseloads increase • More officer burn-out • Frustrated residents  * * New Dispatch System in 2021, 10400 South & 11400 South Construction and Station 64 opened  Average New Investigations Per detective each month 2021 AGENCY CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY CASES COMBINED OR OTHER UNITS Bluffdale 12* Cottonwood Heights 7 7 Draper 13 21 Herriman 25* Murray 19 35 Riverton 9* Sandy 11 14 Saratoga Springs 19* South Jordan 10 9 South Salt Lake 20 60 Other: Adult Sex Crimes 10, Child Sex Crimes 10 Taylorsville 17 21 Other: street crimes - 19 Unified/UPD 11 31 Other: Violent Crime 5, SVU 11 DV by Precinct 8-36 West Jordan 10 11 Other: SVU = 15 West Valley City 8 12 * Combined totals - cases not separated between persons or property. Fire Department Current and Future Funding Considerations Service Response Trends • As the City continues to grow in population and households, the Fire Department continues to see a proportionate and corresponding increase in calls for service. • EMS calls via 911 and Interfacility Transports (IFTs) from the Daybreak Health Center account for the greatest increase in calls. • Prior to opening Station 64 in July 2021, calls for service were beginning to outpace the Fire Department’s ability to adequately respond to calls, which was resulting in: • Increased emergency response times. • Greater reliance on Mutual Aid from outside agencies. • Loss of revenue from EMS transports and IFT transports. • Increased employee burnout and decreased job satisfaction. • Decreased time for community engagement and education.  Trends in Calls for Service 9000 120000 112891 109568 106246 8000 102924 99602 96280 100000 Station 64 Opened 92957 7000 89365 86313 Station 63 Opened 77485 6000 80000 73666 70905 71732 66590 5000 61711 57301 60000 8323 4000 8033 7754 7485 7225 6731 6974 6271 6498 3000 6054 40000 5574 5774 5420 4911 4380 2000 3984 3651 3688 20000 1000 1575 1620 1650 1680 1700 1710 1750 1775 1484 1510 1110 1139 260 601 693 670 661 795 0 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 Interfacility Transfers Total Calls for Service Population Households Principal Budget Increases • Additional personnel (FTEs) to open and operate Fire Station 64. • FTE additions were spread over three budget years. • Salary and benefits for new employees represents the largest cost. • Uniforms and safety equipment. • Training and certification costs. • Corresponding increases in operational expenses. • Fire Station addition. • Ongoing maintenance and operational costs. • Increase in fleet procurement and operational costs. • Additional vehicles were added to fleet. • Inflation, fuel, maintenance cost increases. • Increased cost for equipment. • Inflation, technological advances, supply shortages. • Additional requisite safety equipment provided to personnel. Results of Increased Funding • Fire Department response capability has increased by 33%. • Increased capacity to handle calls for service within the City. • Overall response times have decreased throughout the City. • Better Fire and EMS coverage and decreased response times to ~30% the City’s west side landmass. • Increased revenue from EMS and IFT transports has been realized due to better balance in transport unit availability. Results of Increased Funding • Increased service levels in Fire, EMS, Hazmat, and Technical Rescue response. • Preparing to launch Critical Care Paramedic Program. • Increased capabilities and service to the community. • A more balanced capacity for the Department to handle calls for service generated in South Jordan. • Decrease in reported employee burnout and increase in overall employee satisfaction. Current Operational Balance • The Fire Department is currently able to achieve an appropriate balance between demands for service and ability to provide service. • As a result, Fire and EMS units are available more often to respond to calls within South Jordan, thereby reducing reliance on Mutual Aid agencies. • Having an appropriate number of Medic Ambulances has resulted in decreased ambulance response times, more ambulances available to respond, resulting in increased hospital transports. • Transport revenue to the City has increased, with less revenue being lost to outside ambulance providers. This funding is used to offset Fire Department operational costs and capital expenses. Budget Savings and Efficiencies • Fire Engines have been redesigned to better serve the community and respond more efficiently. • These design changes have decreased the vehicle size and reduced procurement, maintenance, and operational costs. • Advanced fleet planning resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings through chassis prepayments and by avoiding inflationary price increases. • Ambulance boxes have been designed to be remounted on a new chassis at the end of vehicle service life. • Remounting and refurbishing ambulance boxes on a new chassis has and will continue to save tens of thousands of dollars per vehicle and will extend the usable lifespan of our highest demand fleet vehicles. Budget Savings and Efficiencies • Continued evaluation of supply sources to find most economical procurement opportunities. • Examples: • Medical supply purchasing (e.g. medical glove costs were reduced by ~$20/box.) • Firefighter PPE costs were reduced by ~$200/person. • Training/Certification cooperatives with Jordan Valley Medical Center and other fire agencies, which have significantly reduced annual certification and training costs. • Aggressive Lateral Firefighter Hiring Program • Has reduced or eliminated initial certification training for these employees. • Has significantly reduced on the job training hours. • Has rapidly increased service level capability to our community. Future Budget Considerations • Addition of Fire Station 65. • Station 65 response area is currently being developed. • Emergency response times will increase as development grows away from existing Fire Department facilities. • Call growth will eventually overcome current service capabilities. • Adding additional FTEs will be the largest financial hurdle. • 18-21 FTEs will be needed depending on timing of the addition. • Mid to Long-term plan to add second fire crew to Fire Station 64. (Dependent on speed of development) • As this area grows in population, roof tops, and infrastructure, calls for service will outpace a single fire company’s capabilities. • 15 additional FTEs will be needed to add one Ladder Truck. • 6 additional FTEs will be needed to add one Medic Ambulance. Projected Fire Station Coverage Needs Future Budget Considerations • The current pace of development and demand for services will challenge the Fire Department’s resources in the future. • Any growth to the City’s municipal boundaries will accelerate this issue. • There will be a need for additional station(s) and personnel in order to maintain service levels in our growing community. • Future need for additional Administrative Staff • Training and Certification • Records Management and Billing • Operations Management • Logistics • Fire Marshal Division Future Budget Considerations • Apparatus and equipment costs will continue to increase and will continue to require a significant capital investment by the City. • Future Community Risk Reduction/Education Division • Requests from the community for educational services continue to increase. • Available personnel hours to provide training continues to decrease. • Community risk factors and needs continue to change and develop over time resulting in an increased need for community preparedness and resiliency training. • Fire Department assets are an extremely limited resource in times of widespread emergency. Thank you for your continued support!