August 5th, 2025 - Alpine School District Truth in Taxation Hearing/Board Meeting

001My name is Stacy Baitman and I will be conducting tonight. Our pledge of allegiance will be by Vicky Carter and our inspirational thought by Cynthia Cardinis. >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Well, I'm super excited that like I get to do the welcome back thought, right? So, here's your welcome back thought. So, as we begin a new school year, there's this sense of possibility in the air. And the amazing thing is that each fall we are given a gift of a fresh start, a clean slate with opportunities to grow and connect and make a difference. And across Alpine School District,

002teachers, staff, and leaders are truly truly you look in the schools and you see this. They're excited to welcome students and families back. and we've been preparing and planning and hoping for a year that will bring both success and joy. Now, of course, we're going to be celebrating all of the successes and the things that we learn. However, we also know that the year won't always be easy and there will be days of struggle and uncertainty and of learning through our mistakes. But in those moments, that's when we lean into the strength of our community and the courage within each of us. And there's an author and artist Mary Anne Radmucker known for her inspirational work on courage and compassion. And she reminds us that courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice

003at the end of the day saying, "Okay, I'll try again tomorrow." That's the courage we hope to see in every classroom, every hallway and every home. Courage that in our students to try something new. Courage in our teachers and our staff to meet the needs of every learner. and courage in our parents to stay engaged even when the path is hard. When we all show up with that quiet, persistent courage and when we support one another with kindness and respect, there's nothing we can't achieve. We look forward to working together this year to create schools where every student feels seen, valued, and inspired. So, let's make this an amazing year together. Thank you, Principal Cardinus. I am so excited for your new role that you are so perfect for. Uh we now have up to

00430 minutes set aside for public comment. This opportunity is allocated for patrons living within the Alpine School District boundary. A signup sheet was available prior to this meeting, allowing up to 10 patrons the opportunity to speak. Those living outside of ASD and those who were unable to sign up before all slots were full can submit written comments at alpineschools.org/schoolboard. Scanning the QR code in the lobby will also direct you to the form. As you are called up, please introduce yourself by stating your name. You will be given up to three minutes to speak. While the board does not engage in a discussion during the public comment period, they may arrange for a staff member to communicate with you later. Personnel issues are not appropriate discussion items for an open meeting environment. If you have a

005personnel concern, please contact member of administration or put your concerns in writing and address it to the board of education. First up, we will hear from Laura Jensen, followed by Kimberly Braithweight. Good evening. Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak to you. If you don't mind, I'm just going to read my comments so that I don't forget anything. And I don't know if it's appropriate or not, but I do have an information page for you about what I would like to discuss with a map on it. So, I don't know if that is okay or not. Um, I currently live in Lake View Estates in Eagle Mountain. Our students will be going to the new Sage Canyon Middle School. We are asking Alpine School District to provide bus transportation to our children to

006this new middle school. The situation is our neighborhood is located between 1.7 and 2.6 miles from the school, which places us just barely outside the eligibility boundaries for automatic busing. On paper, that may sound walkable, but the reality is very different and potentially very dangerous. The unsafe walking conditions, most the most direct route is 2.4 miles from my home, which is pretty much in the center of that neighborhood. It requires walking right along SR73, which is a very busy state highway with no sidewalk. This is not a quiet neighborhood street. It's a high-speed thoroughfare used by cars, trucks, and construction vehicles at all hours. There are multiple stretches with no sidewalk, no shoulder, no safe barrier between pedestrians and traffic. The alternative safe route through the neighborhoods trails, it increases this walking distance from 2.7

007to 3.6 six miles for many of the students, some of whom are only about 12 years old. In the winter during snow and darkness, these risks increase exponentially. The emotional toll as a parent and a grandparent um we will have every day. Would we feel safe letting our kids walk this route to school? The answer is absolutely not. We are not being overly cautious. We are being realistic and very protective of our beautiful children. Sorry, now I'm going to get emotional. What we're asking is for the district to reassess the transportation plan for Sage Canyon Middle School and to include a bus route that serves Westview Heights and Lake View Estates. We understand the policy set certain distance thresholds, but this isn't just about distance, it's about safety. Other districts in Utah have made exceptions

008when a route is proven unsafe. We are simply asking the Alpine district do the same. We're not alone. We have dozens of concerned families in our neighborhood voicing the same concern. Many have expressed that they would gladly attend meetings, which we have a little backup today, or even help cover the costs if needed. It's not a complaint. It's a plea for a partnership with you to work together to keep our kids safe. Board members, please know we know that transportation is tight, the funding is tight, and the policies must be followed. But tonight, I'm asking you to consider what is reasonable, not just what's written. Please don't wait until something tragic happens to our children. Let's avoid this disaster by partnershiping, collaborating, working together to come up with a solution for our neighborhood. Thank you.

009That's all. Kimberly Braithweight, >> thank you for the opportunity to address you tonight. I, like Laura Jensen, am here from the Lake View Estates Westview Heights neighborhood and represent nearly 40 children that will be attending Sage Canyon this fall. I understand that we are just outside in parts of our neighborhoods of the parameter of 2.1 miles, but as Laura has mentioned to you, we have the unique situation of our children having to cross an unusually high-speed, high volume, high danger highway. In just the last year, UD do has cited over a hundred accidents on this stretch of road. We have had a drunk driver cross this very intersection and smash through a backyard of a neighbor. A child that will be attending this fall was hit in this intersection just a few years ago on

010his bike with his family using the crosswalk as they walked to attend an activity at Blackidge Elementary. This year, the district is asking this child to cross this entryway and this crosswalk on a daily basis to attend school, the same that he was hit in and had to have several surgeries to recover from the damage. Additionally, we would be asking the children to use this route during rush peak hour in the mornings when when daylight savings comes, it will be dark. There is not appropriate lighting here in Eagle Mountain. We have dark sky ordinances. This is not a well-lit street. The crosswalk was previously deemed unsafe for our children who attended Blackidge Elementary and a bus was provided then. This dangerous intersection does not suddenly become safe just because a child enters middle school. These

011middle school children deserve our care and protection, too. None of them can legally drive themselves to school. We have single parents, working parents, and many other situations that prevent them from being able to drive their children. These kids would be forced to walk this dangerous route twice daily. I ask you to please re-evaluate the feasibility and necessity of a bus in this neighborhood for the safety of our kids. I'd urge you to come see for yourself the high rate of speed and frequency of run red lights during the same hours that our children will be traveling to school and ask yourself if you'd allow your child to cross that highway. I understand that there are budget constraints and there are probably many others asking for exceptions, but I would please ask you to come and

012see this unique situation. stand at this road during the times that we are asking our kids to walk it. Come when it's dark like it will be in just two months and stand there and watch as these cars fly down this road. The the speed limit is currently 55. I would venture to say that that is the rare speed and it is more closely to 70. That is a light that is frequently run and again is not well lit. We have 40 children that will need to use this route. Thank you for your time and we would appreciate your consideration as you take a look at this intersection and consider the safety of our children. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, we will move on to approval of minutes. >> We'll entertain a motion. >>

013I move that we approve the minutes. I second the motion. >> Okay. >> Motion from board member Bon, second from board member Clement. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I >> thank you. Uh claims. Superintendent Smith. >> You've received the claims for the month and I recommend you accept the claims. >> Thank you. I will entertain a motion. >> I move that we accept claims. >> Second. Okay, we have a motion from board member Clement and a second from board member Peterson. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Routine business. >> Um, in your routine business, you have a budget summary, the Alpine Foundation board summary, personnel hiring and releases, as well as LEA specific licenses. And I recommend you approve the routine business items. >> I move that

014we approve the routine business items. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Motion from board member Wilson with a second from board member Lincoln. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Uh action items. Okay, for the action item tonight, we have uh an elementary boundary adjustment that also includes a potential school closure notification. I'm grateful that uh Eric Woodhouse, our executive director of operations, is here as well as Derek Barnes, our assistant operations director, and um they're going to share some information with the board for your consideration and potential action. So, uh, my capital planning team have been very, um, active this last year in looking at all of our locations. It's it's been interesting as we go through a reconfiguration process to know, okay, some of these areas that are experiencing

015high enrollment or lower enrollment and what do we do in those situations? Do we act on them now or do we act on them later? We really feel like there are four that we really need to act on this year. um one in particular today, but we're staggering them because of the public hearings and the board meeting comments. So, we're trying not to have all on the same time. So, one of them we will put into action tonight that we're proposing that you take action on as a board. The other three we will bring to the board in September. So, for tonight's consideration, it's the elementary school boundary adjustment with potential consolidation of Cedar Valley Elementary. And the reason why this is Cedar Valley Elementary is because we are building a new school to relieve

016Desert Sky, building 133. With the building of a new school, there is always going to be a boundary adjustment review because we're trying to bring down the sizes of not just Desert Sky, but some of the other schools in the area as well. That's why you will see a lot of these other schools included in this boundary study. So when we go about the boundary study process for those in the public or in attendance, if we are going to do a boundary adjustment, we need to include all the schools that are going to be a part of that boundary adjustment in our formal study. And so that's why we're bringing it here with the consideration of Cedar Valley, Black Ridge, Hidden Hollow, Desert Sky, the new elementary 133, Eagle Valley, and Mountain Trails. That doesn't

017mean that all of Hidden Hollow or or Black Ridge might even be impacted. There might be no impact on there. But when we do a boundary stud study, we like to go wide so that we can really narrow in on what the best options are. So this just gives us the best opportunity to collect as much information as we can from the public because our ultimate goal is to be able to really refine that process so that we're really establishing what our communities need. We're hearing them and we're bringing that information back to you as a board so you can make informed decisions. That's what we really try to do as a capital planning team is to help you make informed decisions so that we can utilize our properties and our facilities to the best

018use possible. So Derek has kind of talk to you a little bit about the process and the timelines. Derek, as you can see on the screen, we have the the general timeline uh here tonight beginning the formal study with uh uh assuming you approve it. if you do the notification sent to families in the coming days uh that could potentially be affected by those boundary changes and the potential closure. Uh coming up in September, we would convene the boundary committee uh consisting of district staff and the principles involved and parents uh representing each of those schools uh to generate uh initial boundary ideas and uh uh refine those in order to uh get those posted online to get feedback from the public. In addition to that online feedback, on September 23rd, we would have a

019public hearing, uh, which would be one of several opportunities for the public to to give comments at the public hearing. Here at board meetings they can, and obviously the online, uh, feedback. We'd conduct open houses in October. We would reconvene as a boundary committee uh in early November if necessary to refine and give a final recommendation uh to then to you as a board uh here or on November 18th uh for a final decision on uh hopefully we're adjusting some boundaries for a new elementary. We want to utilize that school and then of course the potential closure if you decide to act upon that at that time. Any questions? I just want to say one more thing. Thank you, Derek. Well done. Um, you might notice, especially with all these boundary studies, even with the

020other three that we will propose take place in September, we're trying to adjust our timelines. We don't like doing boundary studies. Even though you only need 30 days, it's difficult the closer you get to the start of school and then parents don't know what to expect. And so, we're trying to finish up all these boundary studies before the start of the new calendar year. So that way schools have a lot of time to anticipate what to do with FTEEs and teachers and where they'll go with those boundary adjustments. It's just really going to refine that process a lot better. So, so that's why you're seeing the timeline here finishing up before that December 31st timeline. >> Okay, I'll entertain a motion. >> Before you take the motion, can I ask just one question? I didn't

021know if the board members had any other question, but um with the board elections in November, um does this process also contemplate contacting or reaching out to board members elected in that West area for feedback? I I naturally would assume they'll be involved uh throughout that process over those three three and a half months, but pending that election before the final recommendation, is that something that your team has considered? >> Uh superintendent, that's a very good question. I appreciate you bringing that up. I would assume so. Right. And I think that even with the other three um there are decisions that we will be making that when that new board uh gets elected in November um I'm sure that they would want some input. So I think for my team our approach is we we

022go out we do the studies we get as much information as we can and then we can share that with whoever the board feels will be appropriate. >> I'll entertain a motion. I move to authorize the administration of Alpine District to begin the process of notifying parents and guardians that the following schools their school boundaries and their enrollments could change. Desert Sky, Mountain Trails, Eagle Valley, Cedar Valley, Black Ridge, and Hidden Hollow. >> Second the motion. >> I need it. Okay. So, we have a motion from board member Lincoln to open a boundary study for Desert Sky, Mountain Trails, Eagle Valley, Cedar Valley, Black Ridge, and Hidden Hollow with a Nope. Uh, with a second from board member Clement. Any discussion? I just wanted to acknowledge that this is a unique Cedar Valley is a

023unique small school uh serving a a small but very important population and this they've been waiting for this time when a school would be built close enough uh for them to be consolidated. So, as we look at this possibility, I just want to acknowledge the the unique and charming character of Cedar Valley Elementary. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Okay. Let's >> So, I just wanted to comment I uh for those board members who haven't been out to see Cedar Valley Elementary, it's uh it's a very different school. Uh part of it is an old uh chapel and then some portable units that have been pulled in there. Um I think that a lot of split classes because there are maybe only a couple three students in some grades and uh I but I believe that

024it is kind of a central part of that community. So I acknowledge that there will be we'll need to be very sensitive to that community and try to find solutions that will help them to maintain their community uh feeling and and culture. Um I think that um in terms of an educational product, I believe these students would be much better served by a larger school where they could have multiple um uh classes per grade. teachers could collaborate with each other, I believe you'll see student achievement increasing for those Cedar Valley students. And so I'm uh although it's difficult to anticipate uh closing a school like this, I believe that it will be good for the students. And so I'm in favor of this uh uh this study to see what will happen. Uh, and I

025know that board member King is in regular communication with both the principal and the community. So, I know they've been preparing for this for years. So, uh, let's go ahead and take a roll call vote. Board member Wilson, >> I. >> Board member Lincoln, >> I. >> Board member Clement, >> I. >> Board member Baitman, I. >> Board member Peterson, >> I. >> Board member Bon >> I. >> Thank you. Motion passes. >> Okay, I have a second motion. I >> will entertain that motion. I move to authorize a study to determine possible enrollment changes, school consolidation, and potential closure, and begin the process of notifying parents and engaging the school community for Cedar Valley. Okay. Do we have a second? >> Second motion. >> Okay. Motion is stated from board member Lincoln with a

026second from board member Clement. Any discussion? Okay. Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. Board member Wilson, >> I. >> Board member Lincoln, >> I. >> Board member Clement, >> I. >> Board member Baitman, I. Board member Peterson, >> I. >> Board member Bon, >> I. >> Motion passes. Okay, we now have time for board member and superintendent reports and information items. You got something, Mark? So, I have uh just wanted to report on some of the meetings I've been having lately. We're trying uh USBA is trying to meet with all of our national leaders um while they're here in Utah before the session before they uh they go back to Washington DC. In previous years, we've we actually well this year we actually met with them in Washington DC in January, but it's difficult

027to meet with the legislators. often you meet with their staff or something. So, um we've been meeting with them this fall and it's uh uh I believe it's it's been good to kind of kind of talk with them about where they see things going from a national level. And I think my uh concern has been that we continue to support uh particularly special education as well as the title programs even environment where there is a movement to eliminate the department of education. and I believe at least from some budget proposals to cut the title programs and special ed in half which for Alpine district would be a uh loss of about uh 5% of our budget. Um, and I guess uh the reason I would kind of wanted to mention that is it does kind

028of fit into our discussion in truth and taxation later in this meeting because uh that's when that happens it will mean that we'll either have to cut other programs significantly uh or hopefully we'll have a reserve where we can go ahead and and fill that in with uh with increment funding. >> Thank you. Um I want to share some exciting news. Lehi City, um there was going to be a pedestrian bridge over the Jordan River below 2100 and it was recently announced that that will now be above 2100. So our students um that are coming to Liberty Hills will now have a walking route and that is a fantastic thing. So thank you to Mayor Johnson and everybody that was involved with that. Um this be a great thing for our students. Uh also wanted

029to mention this week we had both our administrator conference and our new teacher orientation and I think sometimes we don't give much thought to all the things that our super our superintendent sorry our principles are doing in their buildings over the summer getting ready for new students um getting refreshers on both federal laws and the the things that are important to each division. So thank you to everybody that put that together and we are so excited to welcome kids back to school. I just wanted to briefly acknowledge the great kickoff we had this morning with our PTA and they were generous in it involving the board as well as the superintendent and superintendent, thank you for your remarks and and I think everyone appreciated uh being involved together with our parent teacher organization association. Thank

030you. Board member Bon, do you have anything? >> No. >> Okay. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I move to adjurnn. >> You have a second. >> I second that motion. >> Okay. Motion from board member Lincoln, second from board member Clement. We'll take a roll call vote. Board member Wilson. >> I. >> Board member Lincoln. >> I. >> Board member Clement. >> I. >> Board member Baitman. I. Board member Peterson. >> I. >> Board member Bon. >> Hi. >> Okay, we stand adjourned. >> Please talk to your neighbor for one minute and then we will open the public hearing. here today. We're going to start with a brief presentation from our business administrator, Jason Sunberg. >> All right. Thank you. Uh the these slides, there's about eight or nine. We'll go through

031and just a brief explanation of how taxation works and what's being uh contemplated in this in this meeting. Um the board will hear from the public and then be able to discuss and figure out the best path forward. So we'll go to the first slide here. Uh what this is showing is the eight or six different rates that come into school funding. So tax rates, you have the basic levy which is state set by the state legislature. Um the board levy, the voted levy levy, and the capital levy. Those are the three um main ones that the school board has authority and options to be able to change each year to bring in more revenue. Um and through this process, the debt service levy is another one. It isn't necessarily set higher. It can't be

032set higher by the board. It's determined by the county on how much general obligation principal and interest is due for the year. The rate is set. Um the board has has done in the last two years can determine to be able to reduce that rate if needed um to pay with other funds. In the case for the last two years, the funds that have been used to make up the difference between the revenue that's come in and the payments that are due is from the fund balance in that specific fund. And then the charter school levy also set by the the legislature. So if we're looking at these, the first column there, the FY25 final tax rate um is 6115. So when we're talking today about increments, and there's a slide about this, but the

033fourth decimal place is what would be considered an increment. So for the final one, that 6115, that would be approximately 61 increments was the total final rate for all six of those levies for the last tax year we were in. You can see each one the the basic levy was at 14 increments, the board about 11 increments, the voted about 12, and so forth. And you can see through the certified tax rate process, which we'll explain a little bit more, but as values, property values go up, the rate goes down to match that approximately to bring in the same revenue for the existing properties that were there. So as values have gone up, the rates go down. So you can see in the board voted in capital, the board went from about 11 increments through

034the certified tax rate process down to about 10 increments. So down about one increment. Same thing with voted down from 12 to 11 12. The capital down from 14 to 13. the debt service. This one isn't there's a part of it that's the as values go up the rate goes down but it's more driven on as we pay off debt there's less of a rate that's needed to bring in um revenue there. So, in the fiscal year we just completed FY25, there was about $64 million of principal and interest that was due and we paid. In this next the year we're in, FY26, that's dropping about 22 million um down to about 42 million um that's due. So, you can see that it dropped from 931 about nine increments down to about seven increments. That

035drop of 22 million actually would have been a little bit more last year. That nine increments would have been about 12 increments had the board not reduced down three increments to use up some fund balance. So it really the required rate fell from about 12 increments down to seven or about five full increments that was needed. But in this case it dropped two increments from what we set what the board set it at. And then you can see the charter school levy is is pretty small compared to all the rest, but went from about threequarters of an increment to about one increment there. So up in the second column, that FY26 certified tax rate, if nothing was proposed back in June to the county on possible changes while we're having this meeting, the new tax

036rate would have been 5674. So about 57 increments down about four increments from last year. So what shows up on the tax notice in the third column is a a study of raising the capital rate four increments. So going from about 57 that 5674 up to 6074 all driven by that one in the box from the 1329 to the 1729. So that is the most that can be contemplated today by the board is to raise the capital rate by four increments from 1329 to 1729. So 1729 is the max couldn't go to five or six more increments just the four but could be studied to do 3 2 1 or zero. The board has that authority um to make that decision tonight. Um, what doesn't show up on the tax notice is the possible scenario

037of reducing the debt service levy from the 744 to the 444 in that final column. So on everybody's tax notice, it still says the 744 because that's what's needed to make the payments. But because there's still about $20 million of fund balance fund balance we're anticipating at the end of FY25 that some of that can again be used to make that um difference between what's needed to be paid in the expenses and the revenue that would come in with that lower rate. So back to the top last year's rate was 661 increments. If nothing changed and there was no hearing today, it would fall down to the 5674. But the the what's being studied is the possibility of raising the capital levy 4, the debt service down three for a net increase of one increment

038from the 5674 to the 5774, which is shown in that box in red right above with the arrows. So the 5774 divided by the 5674 is a 1.76% increase, not from last year's rate, but from what the rate would be if there was no hearing today and possible change. Any questions on this slide from the board? Yes. So, >> as I'm looking at this and I see the rate of what it was last year and if we do the recommendations, then it's actually a lower rate than last year. Is that correct? >> Yes. The rate of the 5774 is about 58 increments where last year was 61. So, yes. Could you just go over um which of these tax rates are used in computing the 20 increments that is required to get state funding? >>

039Yeah, I have a slide later that will we'll explain that. So if we go to the next slide here, this I won't go through everything here, but this is kind of what was explained is the tax increment is a fraction of the percent. So that 0.001, so the fourth decimal place. So if somebody owns a home with the median value of a 520,000 and if it's their primary residence, they get a exemption by state law down 45%. So there the $520,000 home would be taxed at $286 times one decimal place in the fourth spot there is 2860 per year. So going back the slide you can see if we did um go back one rich. So if if we did the 577 57 increments or the 56 wherever that is there it's the same um

040calculation. So go back to the one we were at. So for one increment it's a $2860 per year or $2.38 per month um for for each one increment change up or down. Okay, next slide. this again. So the the difference too is there's the market value. If somebody sells a home, that's not necessarily what the county has assessed their home to be. Usually have seen that if it's usually a little bit lower than the market value. And then again, we have that reduction of 45%. But the the county auditor um figures out calculates the certified tax rate. The assessor's office does the assessed value of each property and then the county treasurer figures out the revenue that's needed there. Um, next slide. This is >> I have just a question on that. Um, the taxable

041value. Um, I know that my taxable value went up. That is calculated kind of in a uniform way by the county. I know we have nothing to do with that, but I'm just >> on what the Yeah, I guess the the taxable value um what they they do an assessment on that, but the assess assessed value may be different than the market value, >> but the the county and they may and the county goes through and does a certain section every year. So, they may not get every property every year. So, your your value may stay the same for a couple years, then change kind of make up that difference. And there's there's a notice uh on the tax notice that if you want to contest the assessed value, there is a process, >> right?

042>> Okay. Okay. So on this one, what this is showing um I guess a general explanation here is whatever revenue in the capital board and voted levies that a not just a school district but a city, county, water district, whatever revenue they received one year, they're guaranteed that same revenue the next year. And so that's how the rates go down as they'll figure out, okay, all the the average value of the properties went up 5% for the existing properties. If there was no new growth, then the then the rate would go down about the same amount to generate the same revenue. They calculate that rate and then any new growth that gets added um gets that same rate. So there will be there could be new revenue to a taxing entity, but only when there's

043new growth on that. And so, but the the opposite exists too. In rare years, if uh the average assessed value went down, the rate would go up to be able to match the same revenue. And the note there at the bottom, um many school districts have tried to make this certified tax rate process a little different to at least include an inflation amount in the calculation. So, as we're figuring out, okay, here's the existing properties, what's their value as it goes up? Can there be something that the revenue just goes up at least by the the inflation rate maybe of two or 3% but currently that is not the case in the process. Next slide. So what what you're saying then is if we don't do tr truth and taxation and it and increase the

044increments then we init in essence lose inflation from our budget >> unless there was growth that made up for that. But usually the the new growth doesn't quite keep up with the inflation. Um this slide here, this is uh kind of a snapshot of what your tax notice would look like. The yellow is all added by us to for clarity here. So as you get your tax notice, you would see four lines um that would have to do with schools. There'd also be um your city, your county lines. Those are not included on here. So, just looking at things that have to do with the school. So, the there'll be a line that says Alpine School District levy. You can see that in red and it shows an arrow down to the bottom. It actually

045that line includes three levies that aren't broken out on your tax notice, but they are the board voted and capital levies. So, those are the three that are all determined as values go up, the rates go down to get the same revenue. So, all three of those are in that calculation. Um the board let's see so the one uh board member Clement was asking about is the 20 increments. It's the board and voted um are in that one and I have a separate slide there but it's just the two there. So right now last year they were at about 11 and 12 increments. So a little over 20 increments. This current year they're about 10 and 11. So dropping down uh to about 21 there. Um some points to make here. So, like I said,

046that arrow coming down to those three, the board voted in capital or in that red one. This year is the first year where that blue line wasn't also included with the other three. So, they've the county has broken out that where the bond or the debt levy, that blue text is its own line now. And so you can see last year, which won't show up on your notice, that first column of the yellow, it won't show what last year's rate was, just what you paid in taxes. And these are both at the top based on the median value. So last year, the median value was 489,000 for a home. This year, 520. So both um all the columns are figured on those two numbers. Uh the next one is the basic levy. the the rate

047there of about 14 increments is set by the state and every school district in the state has the same exact rate and one thing to note there that does go to schools what that that is used is brought in and is part of the WPU we talk about so if for instance um the WPU value which has about 48 4600 per WPU or student um you're guaranteed that amount, but the basic rate comes in. So, if a school district has where 50% of that WPU amount comes in through the basic rate, the state would make up the difference of that 50% with state money. Or there could be one where it's only 10% and the county or the state brings in 90%. Or or there could be one where a district brings in 95% through

048the basic rate and then the state provides the other amount. And we are a district that requires some state matching. Correct. >> Correct. Yes. Um and so and then the last one's that charter one. So those all add up together there. Well, this is kind of showing like the table in the first one. So everyone's tax notice with that red text would show an increase proposed increase of 11.5% or $114 on the median home. And that is because it just includes those three of the board voted in local. If you were to include everything that's going to schools, it's about a 7% increase, which is shown right at the bottom um below the 11 and a half. And then but it does not include the option that the board has to reduce debt service from

049the seven increments down to the four. If that were the case, um the increase is about 1.76%. Um, one thing to note here too, uh, just looking at this median value, last year they would have paid 1644 in taxes to go towards schools, charters, and all of these things. Um, if nothing changed, if there was no proposed tax change, that would have fallen from 1644 to 1622. And then the proposal is to have that be at 1651, which is $28 per year more than what it would be without this, but only about $7 more than last year's taxes. Any questions on this slide? >> I noticed on the current tax notice there is a red line in the middle that I think it used to just say this is not a bill. do not you

050do not pay from this. But it now says um this notice does not include tax relief programs. So that that's an improvement. I think the notice is gradually improving, but I think there's still some room for clarity um because people get confused. >> Thank you. >> Right. Another thing uh to look at, the debt service rate has fallen pretty significantly the last few years and it's been a strategy to be able to capture some of that as it's come off um to be able to have funding to be able to build more as we go rather than to have to finance with bonding. I looked back and even in the 2023 tax year, the rate for that blue line, the bond one was about 17 increments. So going from 17 um down to the nine

051down to seven down to four, it's falling pretty significantly as we're be able to pay off debt um from the general obligation bonds. So let's go to the next slide. So this is just some bullet points of possible consideration of why this um is being considered. So the main thing we want to emphasize is flexibility with startup funds. So flexibility. The other thing too right now um as we are able to move use up some of the debt service fund balance, that fund balance can only be used to pay general obligation bond debt. If we're able to move those three increments down, use that up and move three or four increments into capital, it can be used for capital, but it also could be used for debt also. So it just provides the flexibility there.

052But also with new three new districts coming up, there's going to be some startup funds that could be used prior to July 1st of 27 or at that time depending on as new boards get elected and then this current board um has discussions on things. Um so these four new increments added to the 6.3 that we already have in a building fund um would generate quite a bit that can be used for that. So right now the 6.3 generates about uh 35 million per year and this would add another 22 million for be able to use for land for elementary schools for other things that are needed. >> Just want to clarify um Jason that this capital fund also would include the payments on our current LRB uh our lease revenue bond which is paying

053for a high school and an elementary. >> Correct. this this proposed increase of the four is not for that because we already have enough in the current 6.3 to be able to pay that but it is in the same kind of bucket that we've created for that. >> Yeah. And that when there is the district split that that LRB will be will be allocated the debt will be allocated to the district in which those buildings belong or are located. >> Yeah. For the next two years, it's interest payments. And then for the first year after the split, it'll still be interest payments. Then when the high school is completed, then principal and interest payments will be made um by the West District. Okay, that last bullet point, need to maintain 20 qualifying tax increments. So,

054this proposal doesn't change anything. We're over the 20 increments right now, about 21. So, it's not needed for this year. it's more looking forward um for the possibility as that drops below. So there was a change just this year on how that's calculated. Before the board and voted were looked at separately and they had a five-year hold harmless. So as one one of the rates had to be at 16 increments, the other at four as they fell down um there was five years for a board to wait to be able to bring them back and not lose any state funding. Now they have they've unseparated them where they're not the 16 and the four. It's just 20 together and there's only a one-year look back. So right now we're at 21 increments. If next year

055it went down to 18 or 19 because values go up. We'd still be okay for that year because there's a one-year hold harmless, but the next year boards would have to raise that above the 20 to not lose out on state money that's there for for the use for use. And so, um, but this adding to the capital, that's the nice thing. If next year this board didn't want to increase any of the rates, but it did fall below the 20, this board could say, well, let's use the one or two increments we need to get to 20 to be able to set that and use it from the capital as long in the capital board invoted. If the total rate doesn't go up, so if you move two increments from capital to go down

056to and the board are voted up to, there's no truth in taxation because nothing's changing to the taxpayer. It's a net zero in that effect. Um, and so that's kind of the nutshell of of what the 20 increments are. >> Is there a requirement of how many um increments we need to have in capital? >> No, capital there there are maxes for all three of those. So in the the capital the max is 30 increments. Uh the board is 25 and the voted is set by what voters approve which is the 16. So setting it back so it can only go to the 16 max there. >> Jason, can you clarify when you talk about um the hold harmless for a year and that you know if you don't stay in the 20 increments you

057can lose capital like state funds. Do you know how much the state funds are that we currently receive >> in that part? Uh >> um I'd have to check exactly on that, but there's, you know, it's millions of dollars that's in each thing there. There's a multiplier for the board and the voted. Um as long as you're in that range of receiving that, and we still are for both of those. >> So Jason, just to clarify, I know you've said this like twice, but I just need to clarify to make sure I'm understanding. So currently we are at that guaranteed 21 increments allowed by the state and if let's say we voted tonight to not make any changes this year. So we would remain at that 21. >> Yes. Sorry. Go ahead. >> And and

058then continue to receive the full state guarantee without any loss in funding. Is that what you're saying? >> Correct. The the option here with the it's kind of that last bullet. new districts or this this school board next year can decide to move some increments from capital operations in the future without having to go through a truth and taxation process or to change people's taxes up. And and the other point make too is um I made kind of at the beginning the most that this board tonight can decide is to do the four increments in capital. Um, with that we'd recommend that the debt service go down three for a net of one. But the board could also decide to do um anything less than the four or three or two one or zero. Um,

059but if it was less even less than the four, I'd still recommend the debt service be there to match it. But if the board decided to say we're only doing one increment in capital, I wouldn't say go down three in the debt service. just kind of match those to have a a net zero or just the plus one that's proposed here. >> Um Jason on this um movement away from general obligation bonds to um use of capital funds um is this a trend in the state of Utah? There are other districts that have um decided to do that that if I even eliminated their debt service fund and just in capital fund even though they need to pay that um but be able to continue to build this building fund which we started maybe three

060years ago to build up this building fund to be able to pay with cash rather than um with bonding. We have we've had a AAA bond rating which is great but there's still none of those bonds are free. there's interest that's paid paid on that for years and years. Um, so it's a it's a savings to taxpayers when you're able to pay with cash rather than to to borrow. >> Yeah. So, we're able to able to save on interest, but our our capacity to build is limited by the amount that we have at hand. >> Yeah. Just the timing of building those up. So, let's say hypothetically we were splitting into three districts and there were three new school boards being elected. Um, what what are the pros and cons of waiting for the new

061board to come in? Like if we just did uh tax neutral three and three, what would those implications be for the new school boards next year? >> It's a great question. Um, so the the new school boards won't have taxing authority next August. At this time they will the following. So after they officially start July 1 because it'll be for that tax year. Um, but this what this is doing is so it's just building up this building fund to be able to use either in the next two years or at the time of the split to be able to um hopefully meet some of the needs. I don't think it'll even be able to meet all of the needs. The other thing kind of on the flexibility or the new district to move one of

062the districts maybe the the west district probably won't want to move if there's 10 increments in the building fund. They'll probably need a few more to make payments and to be able to build up new schools, but the central or the south may say, "We don't need 10 increments in just in the building fund here. we could be able to move this and make up some um deficits that we may have as we figure out the the budgets of things. So, it's a a flexibility to be able to move um because you can't move once the funds come in. If it comes in as capital, you can't use it to pay teachers, but if you change the rate before it comes in, then you can be able to do that. So on a building, say

063an elementary school that's 30 million about what is the savings by building with cash versus going to a general obligation bond? >> It's a great question. Um to look and see what our latest was on that. Right now we were >> Yeah, I think Rob's doing a quick calculation. No, but I think that the the amount um like on a $35 million high or elementary, you know, financing that for 17 or 18 years, you're probably going to pay another 12 or 15 plus million in interest over the life of that. So that >> so this then sets up all of the future boards to be able to utilize the capital and to build or remodel or adjust some of the needs. um without having that huge interest payment. Correct. >> Yeah. I don't know if

064they'll I don't know if there'll be enough even in this building fund to then look at those things or maybe as years go by they would be able to at the time of the split there'll be enough to be able to split up and maybe be able to go towards um part one district be able to have a special school or one district to be able to build an elementary. Um but it's not going to be this huge cash cow of being able to do whatever and whatever is needed there. >> But if future boards use this same practice over time, we would save taxpayers millions and millions of dollars that isn't being paid in interest. >> In interest. Yes. >> I just want to point out that in order to function as a school

065district, at least there needs to be some computer um framework in place. And we've already discussed this in a study session. So, we have we have a lot of work to do before July 1 of 27. Um, I think there's no shortage of projects that should be completed in order to be a functioning three school districts. Okay, let's go to the next slide. This is just from our budget book, but it's showing what the rates even with some truth and taxations the last few years, the rate has gone down um as you can see there. So as as property values have increased. Um and then the next slide this is what the the notice that's generated from the tax Utah state or the tax rate that we put into the state and then we put

066this in the newspaper on our website just showing the value so that and it's been shown other places but this um proposed increase of the four increments each increments about 5.75.8 million. So four increments is about $23 million. So that would be new money in the capital, but um three4s of that would be less coming in in the debt service. So there'd be 22 and a half or 22.8 coming in the capital fund um but threequarters of that not coming into the debt service for the the net increase of about 5.8 million. Um, this if you want to take the uh picture of this or use your camera for the QR code, this takes you to the county website. Um, if there's individuals that um need tax relief for reasons, this is an application process

067for that through the county's website and that can be yeah done in any way. Questions? Other questions? Okay. Uh just one more time. So if you look at the board and voted uh so we're at around 10 increments and the cap is like 30 increments. Is that what you said earlier? >> So you're looking at which rate? >> Uh the board and voted >> the board the board right now. Yeah. And those aren't those aren't >> 25. I think >> so the board down in the bottom and the it's is I think if you're looking at this one >> and we'll go back Rich go back to right yeah right there so the board one is going to be at the 977 so almost 10 increments and that's what the board one it was about

06811 increments last year it's fallen to about 10 the voted was about 12 fallen to 11 and a half so the max on the board that nine almost 10 is 25 the max on the vote voted is 16. It's at 11 a 12 and the capital the max it can be is 30 and it's being the proposal here the consideration is moving it from 13 up to 17 still about half of the max that it can be. >> Okay. And I think it's uh maybe for other board members, it's actually interesting as I go around the state and meet with other boards, a lot of boards are at their max. And the reason they are doing that is because this is the only way that school boards can fund things like additional bus routes, uh

069reducing the special ed case load, um reducing class sizes. This is the only way that we have to regen to generate funds. And so other boards have chosen to hit about the max. And I think it's, you know, you can see that this board over time has has been fairly conservative in terms of uh of uh raising the tax rate. >> Just to clarify so I understand, if we take the debt service down by three and the capital up that the increments that we're moving into capital need to make that payment in the debt service. No, those new ones in capital there is there is fund balance. Um, so a few years ago the fund balance and and it's interesting to see how the fund balance in the debt services debt service levy or fund

070has happened because you think that the county as they tax set that tax rate that would bring in just enough to make the payment. But I think what they do they're conservative on setting that so you're never short and then there was more growth than the expected and that gets taxed and come in. So there was $45 million a few years ago in the in the fund balance in that fund, but only can be used to pay off debt. So if if we wanted to pay off debt sooner on things, refinance on it, we could do that. Or there's this option, too. So it won't come from that that's moving to capital to pay it. It'll be reducing that debt service fund balance down from about 22 million probably down to you'd think the three

071would take it down the three times about 5.7 but there's still always more that comes in. So we anticipate that it'll drop from about 20 down to 10 um at the end of FY26. So just clarifying when you say fund balance you're talking about fund balance in that debt service levy >> in that yeah at the end of each year what we do is we know how much the fund balance started at that year how much revenue and expense we had. So if in any fund if we had a let's say in the capital fund if we had $10 million cash to start the year we brought in 20 million and spent 10 we would add to our fund balance and it would double in that way. So it's just at the end on June

07230th, what are do you have in savings from your difference between revenue expense either going up or down? >> But this is different from the general budget fund balance. That's correct. That's a different number. >> It's Yep. It's different than the general fund and can only it's restricted only to pay it can't be used to pay teachers or or to build a school. It can only be paid um for principal and interest on geo bond. Any other questions? Okay, thank you so much for that, Jason. We will now hold a truth and taxation hearing to receive input from the public with respect to the pro proposed FY25 2025 to 26 tax rates by Alpine School District. Those who have signed up to speak have three minutes to comment. When beginning your comments, please remember to

073state your name and address for the record. We will begin with the individuals that signed up to comment virtually. Believe Brent Gray is up first. >> Yes, I'm right here. Can you guys hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay, perfect. Uh, good evening. My name is Brent. I have postprum autism and I live in Vineyard. I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak online. Um due to my disability, I am unable to drive and so being able to speak this way uh helps me to get my voice to be heard. So I thank you. Um nevertheless, uh the people voted to split Alpine School District into three separate school districts. Why do you think that is? It certainly isn't because all of you, no offense, have done such a fantastic job running

074the school district. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Each one of you on this board is making $12,000 a year plus $30,000 a year in benefits. The rationale that was stated last year was that this would help recruit others other interest in running for the board and that each of you have such a huge workload. In the state of Arizona, where I come from, as well as several other states such as Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Iowa, every person that serves on a on a school board does it without being paid. Yet, all of us are paying you for what? To go against everything that we have said and asked of you. Every time we have said no to a bond, you just raise our taxes. Every time we say no to you raising our taxes,

075you do it anyway. It is very clear to me that All of you on this board do not represent the people or our children, but you very clearly represent yourselves. Stacy Baitman, last year you had the audacity to say, quote, "I really wish we would stop the narrative that people in public education need to be martyrs." Close quote. Well, well, Stacy, I really wish that the Alpine School Board would stop the narrative that people with disabilities like myself and seniors like my parents need to risk losing their homes because the board doesn't know how to manage money and within their means. You also claimed, Miss Baitman, that if you add up everything, you don't quite earn 40 grand a year and you had to pay for babysitting services so you could be here on the

076board. Well, here's some numbers for you. I make $15,000 a year and I am being demanded, not asked, demanded, to pay $4,000 a year in property taxes. Do you think you can live off of just $11,000 a year and pay for food, for healthare, for rent, for utilities? I do support teachers, but the cost of administrators, paper pushers does nothing to improve the quality of education for our children. Compensating the school board does nothing to improve the quality of education for our children. But amazing teachers and loving parents do. Is your duty, members of the school board, is your duty to your constituents or to your own self-serving interests based on your five years in a row of raising our taxes despite our opposition to it? That answers the question right there. Why should people

077with disabilities and senior citizens who are on fixed incomes be forced to fund new high schools and elementary schools all the way out in Evo Mountain? How come the school board members are receiving a salary and benefits when most states don't even allow that? How come you disregarded the vote of the people when it comes to bond elections and tax increases? And finally, why are you forcing any tax increase on us when Alpine is splitting in less than two years? Is it your intent to help all of us pay for these new schools before the split? Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter. I vote no. >> Thank you, Mr. Green. Now, we'll hear from Leah Collings. Sorry, just going to unmute. Um, hi. They also thank you for letting me talk.

078Um, I have eight children and I'm home with six of them right now. Two are already graduated. And I just want to tell you that I am so for the tax increase. I think we need to invest so much more money in our education. Um, I just looked on taxfoundation.org at some of the states that my friends live to see what their county tax rates are and what ours is. Um, ours is 46% and theirs like 46 of a percent, not even 1% and some of theirs are as high as two and a half% and their schools show. And when we I I think we are a family centered community. I completely agree. I live in Oram that this is family city USA and yet we do not invest in education. And it occurred to

079me I feel like I paid too little property taxes for the beautiful home that I live in and the beautiful area that I live in. Um it occurred to me even if I can't um even if the tax increase doesn't pass, I guess I could just tax myself and give my money to my school, but then those are going to go to the programs that I care about. And I don't think that's fair to other people. So yes, please vote yes on this tax increase. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Collings. >> Okay, we will move forward with our uh inerson comments. So first up is Jonathan Beherano. Hello, Chair Baitman. I'm so happy to be here. My name is Jonathan Beherano and um I thought that we're all here for different reasons and perhaps

080a lot of us are in the wrong meeting. Let me explain why. We each get a card that says truth and taxation. But does it talk about income tax? Does it talk about sales tax? I heard someone complaining about their their lot where they have to live on a fixed income. You know, I've been out campaigning. I understand that there are people who are retired who have to pay property tax. But this truth and taxation is just a small snapshot. I did a thought experiment and I looked at with AI and Excel the numbers all the way back in 2010. If we look at the amount of money that the state invests in our schools versus how much our property taxes invest, that percentage has been changing over time. In 2010, that was about 66%

081was coming from the state and that's from income tax, right? And now it's 63. So many of you have advocated for tax reduction, income tax. But what happens is is that as we re decrease our income tax, that leaves school districts in between a rock and a hard place. So, I did the math and if you guys are concerned about 11% tax increase, if we were to keep 5% income tax, and again, if you're limited on a fixed income, that would have no effect on you, right? If we were to keep that 5% because you don't make that much money, you don't pay any income tax, then we would have 17% uh we could reduce our tax rate 17%. And I invite any of you to check my math out. I'll totally post it. I

082know many people like John Bareric can look at it and call me out, but I want to be completely transparent and honest, which is simply schools, a lot of people are frustrated with their class sizes, and as I've campaigned, I I know that's true. And starting up a new school district, we need to be looking out for classes of 41 kids. Is that is that feasible? Can a kid get an education with 41 students in that classroom? Can a kid understand how to code if there's just one teacher between 41 different students to answer questions when they raise their hand? Can they do group projects? Can they go ahead and learn to communicate in a in a smaller group setting? Does a teacher even have time to grade their essays and give meaningful feedback? And

083what I'm saying here is that we have an opportunity cost which is the the little bit of tax increase. The 1.27 that Jason Sunberg was talking about is meaningful and impactful for our future generations. And I urge you to consider the future the long-term view of us trying to reduce those class sizes or build schools out west. And I'd like to thank you for the time. >> Thank you. Next up is John Bareric followed by John Gad. >> Jonathan asked for me, so here I am. My name is John Bareric. I'm speaking as concerned taxpayer and voter. For the seventh time in the last eight years, this board's asking families and property owners to shoulder another tax increase. It's not responsible stu stewardship. It's a pattern. The Utah Taxpayers Association recommends that you have truth

084and taxation one in every five to seven years and you've asked for it seven in the last eight years. Um, it's an annual tradition at the Alpine School District. This board is not here to rubber stamp the administration's budget request. You were elected by the people to serve as a check on spending, priorities, excess, and truthfulness. You are to vouch for us, not ASD. When you fail to do that, voters will respond, and we have. Last year, Sarah Hacken lost her board seat after voting for six consecutive tax increases. It wasn't a coincidence. It was accountability. A postcard with her voting record was sent to every home in her district. Emily Peterson now sits in her seat. I'm urging Emily, my elected representative, and each of you to vote no on this tax increase. In

0852022, voters soundly rejected your bond of $595 million. And last year, the voters voted to create three different school districts. These aren't isolated incidents. We are tired of business as usual. You are not being asked to cut classrooms or hurt students. You're being asked to prioritize and live within your means. Alpine School District, as of last year, raised taxes 64% in five years or six years, and you only had 11% growth in students. And that is way more than inflation. Your job is not to have flexibility to prepare for the new school districts. That is the job of the new board members in the districts we're electing this fall. Focus on your job and stay in your lane. This is your opportunity to earn back trust, to show that you hear the public, and to

086demonstrate fiscal responsibility. When you talk in increments, a lot of people get lost. The legislature demands truth and taxation, which means this is a tax increase. This is your opportunity once again to earn back trust. I'm asking for you to listen to taxpayers for once. Let the new school boards do their job when they're elected. A I'm asking you to vote no on this tax increase. Respect the will of the voters. And remember, we will hold you accountable at the ballot in box in November. And I think five of the seven of you are running. Four of you are running opposed. If you vote yes, you will get Sarah Hacken. We promise to send a postcard. Thank you. >> Okay, we'll do John Gad and then John Gillespie. My name is John Gad. Um I've

087been paying taxes to Alpine School District for 25 years. Um I I want to speak against this tax increase. And the reason I want to speak against it is because you have plenty of money to do a great job educating every student without this tax increase if you would just stop wasting so much money. I'm going to give you three examples. The first example is what I call your woke nonsense. Your your adoption of um diversity, equity, and inclusion and critical race theory where you're pushing these woke ideologies down into our schools and our students. This school district um pushed racist and sexist scholarship called the inclusive inspiring educator scholarship. I've got it in my hand here. It was offered this year. You spend a whole bunch of money on this nonsense. This scholarship was

088pushed by none other than Julie King, the schoolboard president. I have the contract uh that I got in a public records request between the Alpine School District Foundation and Julie King. And basically what this scholarship does is it it it gives preference to students who aren't white, who aren't male, and who aren't straight. So, what you're basically saying is in this school district, if you're a white straight male, you're a secondass citizen because we're going to give preference to everybody but you. That's nonsense. Stop. Stop wasting money on that. The second thing that you're wasting money on is extravagant school buildings. When we go around and look at new school buildings in the school district, they have two or three or four story glass entryways and they have these huge glass courtyards. I went to

089K through2 education in one-story buildings and I got a great education because the buildings never taught me anything. It was the great teachers in those buildings who taught me. So let's go back to building standard school buildings that are completely safe and functional but that don't look like the Taj Mahal. We don't need crystal palaces. If you'd stop wasting money on those school buildings, you'd have plenty of money. We wouldn't need this tax increase. The last example I want to give you is your bloated bureaucracy. If you go to the state auditor's website, an official website of the state of Utah, and you look up the salary and benefits of Alpine School District administrators, in two in 2024, last year, 55 administrators in Alpine School District made more than the governor of the state of

090Utah. So, the governor of the state of Utah, who administers the whole state, is somehow able to do it for less pay than you give 55 of your administrators who administer their little tiny slice of Alpine School District. That's ridiculous. I don't know if these people are your buddies or cronies or I don't know what the deal is, but why do you have 55 people who make more than the governor of the state of Utah, including your superintendent who made $367,000 last year? So, let's stop with the bloated bureaucracy. Let's stop with the Crystal Palace school buildings. Let's stop with all the woke nonsense. Let's take all that money and let's not have a tax increase because we could we could completely uh oblivate the need for a tax increase if you just get rid

091of all rid of all the wasteful spending. Thank you. Next, we'll hear from uh John Gillespie, followed by Ray Pal. >> Sorry, was that >> John is giving up time? >> Okay, Ray. >> Hi, thank you. Appreciate your time. Appreciate the opportunity. My name is Roy Palasios. I'm from Saratoga Springs. Um, and like the past few gentlemans before me, it's true you guys have raised their taxes uh pretty consistently over the past few years. Um, one thing I'd like to clarify uh and and get straight from what I understood uh from the beginning is that this is not needed. This is something that you guys want so that there can be flexibility. Now, what does that mean? That means that they want a little slush fund. So I can dip into for projects, anything that

092they might feel like they need to want because as far as taxes increases go, your obligations are already taken care of. Correct. So with that being said, I'm a single father and I'm paying the mortgage on a single family home. I pay $3,000 a month for my mortgage alone. And that's just my mortgage. just not including my bills, my expenses, my car payment, my insurance, health insurance. So, you can imagine that's quite quite an amount that I'm paying. In order for me to pay that much, I have to make a lot of money. That means I have to put a lot of hours. That means less time that I get to spend with my kids because I'm putting in a lot of hours to pay for all that. What this means is that I'm going

093to have to look for perhaps maybe a second job if the tax increases continue because yes, this has been a trend. So, I'll keep it short. I object. I don't want any more tax increases. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Brandon Wallace, followed by Devon Noise. Alpine School District Board, uh, community, Utah County. My name is Brandon Wallace. Um, I think it's pretty apparent the reason why we have such high property taxes if you just look at the pie chart that's on all of our property taxes and you can kind of tell where all our money is going, right? Each year it goes to Alpine School District. I'm not opposed of the amount or the the amount of the pie that's going to it, but the increases that continue to happen each

094and every year. Um, I moved into my home in 2017 into Utah County. And, uh, since then, uh, in the last seven years, it's been a 76% property tax increase. From when I moved in, I was paying $4,700 in taxes. This proposed tax increase will put me at $8,300. Uh, if you figure out how much that is a month, I'll be paying just in property taxes $700 a month. That's not with a mortgage. That's just the property tax. Um, these amounts are are crazy. In the last four years has been the biggest increase. It's been 62% of that 76% tax increase. Um, I I don't know how uh you guys budget, you guys must earn much more than I earn each year. Um I don't think your income has increased 76% in the last seven

095years. I know mine hasn't. I haven't received a a increase in my wages in that that amount ever. And I don't see how a school board can justify budgeting in that kind of form and just charging the the people uh those significant increases. Um a comment was made that you know you can save a ton of money if we just get this money up front. Well, that would be just like saying if I just charge my kids my total mortgage amount, I wouldn't have to pay mortgage interest anymore. But they don't have the money to pay me that amount to make it so that I can just have a house without paying this interest that we all pay as part of the bond. So, I would I would exhort you guys to uh vote no

096on this tax increase. I appreciate your time. >> Thank you. Uh Devin Noyas followed by Jose. I'm getting your last name wrong. Thank you. Will you spell it when you come up? Thank you. >> Yeah. So Deon Noise, um I live in Lehi and yeah, I got my taxes. Just looking at some numbers, like everyone else has stated, it has gone up and up and up. Every year they just vote for an increase more and more. Um I was looking at some numbers and 2017, my house property taxes have gone up 81%. I don't make 81% more than I did in 2017. And just in the last two years, it's gone up, if this proposal goes through, 23%. I haven't gotten 23% in the last two years. Um, and I'm pretty sure most people in

097this county haven't. And so I would exhort vote no. Um, we already have enough tax burden. I don't think we need anymore. Thank you. >> Hi, thanks for having me. My name is Jose Palasios. That's P A L A C I O S. I'll make it short. Um, I believe a lot of the people behind or before me have mentioned a lot of truths and about certain things that I wanted to say. So, I just wanted to say I wanted to vote no on that tax increase. That's all. >> Thank you. Okay, Sean Slaughtery and then Jeremy Goth. >> Hi Sean Slaughter. I'm out of Highland. So, first of all, thank you for serving today. I greatly appreciate it. It's uh you do a lot for the whole community. And as one of your constituents

098who no longer has a kid attending Alpine School District, um it's nice to meet you all. But I wanted to bring up the pie chart everyone else has. And for living in Highland, there's been a continual theme in the city council that they won't raise taxes because of Alpine School District is doing it again. So there's a lot of unmet needs in the city of Highland simply kicking the can trying to find ways around to not increase. So with the bond being voted down with a split, we've been trying to make the message very clear. 74% of bill going to school district is a huge slice of the pie and we need some relief. The the cities need to take care of deferred maintenance and things of that nature. Like others have said, my rais

099has been two two and a half% a year for six years. Co we didn't get anything. We didn't get an increase. So over time, it's a big burden. Um we have seniors in the family and it's hard. So appreciate your thoughtfulness and would ask that maybe defer till the next district stand up. They all have individual needs. The people in those areas should be able to cover those needs whatever they happen to be. Thank you for your consideration. >> Thank you. >> Hey Jeremy Goff and then Jennifer Osborne. I came today to complain about my taxes going up, but first I need to complain about being lied to. That slide where it said our taxes have gone down. You know that's dishonest. Taxes have gone up. If you show the actual dollar amounts that we

100were paying, it would go up because our property values have gone up. Properties that we don't get to get extra money on that we just pay more taxes on. Yes, the percentage may have gone down. You may be able to say that, but our property taxes have gone up. I don't I get frustrated when I get taxed, but I hate it when I get lied to. You were all fired. If we liked what you were doing, we would have said, "No, keep Alpine School District together." But you have done an awful job. You raise taxes every year with a brand new excuse every single year. And then you gaslight us and say, "It's going down." Come on, have some honor and respect. Do you know how many people are on fixed incomes? Just last night,

101I was sitting with my mom and some of their neighbors and they were talking about how they are struggling to try to figure out how to pay for this. My dad is literally dealing with a water heater that went out and he goes, "Well, maybe I need to refinance my home because I got to pay for the water heater and there's no money for that except for what I was saving for taxes and they're going up yet again." You people have a direct impact on that. you can do the right thing. And the right thing is to say, you know what? Maybe this year is a year where we don't say we're going to make flexibility for the future. Maybe this year we realize every single person's having to tighten their belt. We're having to

102cut ourselves. We don't get to say, "Oh, I got to increase my budget by 3%, 4%. I'm sitting there and I'm on a HOA board and I'm trying to balance a budget to not increase dues. I spend all my time to figure out how not to increase dues. I my goal is to lower dues, but I try to fight to keep them the same." And here you are giving excuses for increasing them. Every year, year after year after year, there's an excuse to increase it. And they're valid excuses. I get it. I'm a treasurer of an organization. There's always a good excuse to increase it. But doing the right thing is tightening your belt because that's what all of us are being asked to do is tighten our belt a little bit more so your

103belt can be a little bit looser. And my request to you is next time you show a slide like that and say your taxes have gone down, be honest and show year over year the actual taxes going up because it's not based on our income. It's based on our property. Just because my house has gone up 50% does not mean I have 50% more money to pay you. It means my house has gone up 50% and it may go back down. So my request is do the right thing. Don't raise taxes. Think of the people on fixed incomes. Think of the people who don't have the ability to tighten their belt much more and do the right thing and let the future school boards deal with the future school boards because we voted you out.

104You were fired. Thank you, Mr. Goth. Next, we'll hear from Jennifer Osborne, followed by Terry Osborne. >> Terry's not coming. I'm Jennifer. I'm Lehi. And I just want to say, I mean, every year we get a tax increase, too. I think last year my taxes went up $400. This year I'm facing another $500. Our taxes from 2015 have over doubled in 10 years, which is my my income hasn't doubled in 10 years. Um like you say, you you say you decrease our tax rate. Um our values go up and you decrease the But yet I agree with prior person says our tax rates keep going up every year. Um I also I I work in healthcare and I deal with people on fixed incomes all the time. They have to decide whether to pay for

105their medications or buy food and and now you keep increasing their taxes. So people just can't afford it. Um, also I've I've also looked up the administrator's pay in Alpine School District and I'm pretty blown away by how much they get paid. So, um, I would love a decrease in their pay. Um, and I I also like if if I don't have money, I have to cut my expenses. I'm at risk of losing my job. And I mean, I'm I'm probably not the only one. And so increasing taxes is not a good idea. So I object the increase. >> Thank you. Terry Osborne followed by Reese Ael. Okay. Reese Ael followed by Laura Stevens. Okay. Okay. Will you hold on one second? We'll bring a microphone to you. >> We won't be able to hear

106you, sir. >> I I have not been able to actually see these slides because of my vision problems. Uh but I've I've heard enough uh to make me just make one comment and that is I would encourage you to vote no on increases u on the tax rate this year. >> Thank you. >> Okay, next up is Laura Stevens followed by Bruce Smith. Good evening. I'd like to thank you. I know that um your job is sometimes or a lot of times a thankless job. I understand there's a lot of hours and time that you guys have to go through. Um I've noticed that there's a lot of angry people and I think that's the result of not feeling like we've been being heard. Everybody is really tight with their finances right now. inflation's going

107up now. Our taxes are going up. Uh like it it seems like it seems like we're drowning. And when you when we don't feel heard, we get really angry. Um I hope that you vote no on this tax increase. I work for Alpine School District. I work at an elementary school. I see the need. Uh but I also see the waste. Um, curriculum. I think we filled up a a dump truck full of books at the end of the school year, getting rid of curriculum. Um, I think there's a lot of things that we could look at to maybe save money in schools. Um, before we just jump to a tax increase. So, I hope you hear us. I really like I don't want to be angry, but I also don't want to have to

108cut my spending at uh for my expenses at home again like things that we go without because like I'm sure you feel it too. Our grocery bills have doubled or tripled. Um our bills have doubled like I don't know how we can be like squos anymore. So I hope you listen to us. Thank you. Thank you. >> Bruce Smith, followed by LJ Sylvester. My name's Bruce Smith. I live in Highland. I've been keeping score. I think the score is 14 nothing. So my question to you is one, are you listening? Two, do you care? If passed is prologue, your decisions already made. I got my tax notice just like everyone else in this room, but I noticed a column missing on it. We got calculated tax due, no budget increase, calculated tax due, increase approved.

109There's a missing column. Calculated tax increase based on a budget reduction. Where is it? In my family, like so many eloquently said earlier, they've got fixed incomes, such as myself, if if I'm lucky, I get to pay 500 bucks extra this this coming fall. If I'm really unlucky, I get to pay $1,200 extra. Can any of you tell me where to get that money? Now, in my family, as has been said earlier, if we can't make ends meet, we cut. Just today, University of Utah, Salt Lake Tribune, University of Utah slashing these 81 academic programs under state statemandated budget cuts. Come with me. I'm in the schools 50% of the school year. any of you, I defy you to walk with me in any classroom, in any school in the Alpine School District, and hiding

110in plain sight is enough money being wasted and administratively abused to fund everything your little hearts desire. Walk with me. Management by walking around is another way to say it. The money is there. The budget cuts are totally responsible. Listen to your constituents. This gobbledygook earlier that took 45 minutes is more effective than chloroform. It doesn't put us to sleep. Let's kill the budget as it is and reduce it. God help us if you don't. Thank you. Next up is Jay Sylvester followed by Andrew Young. Maybe uh I started reading a book a short time ago about Benjamin Franklin. This person who wrote the book said he was the greatest American. And in that book, what I get is Benjamin Franklin tried to make friends with everybody. He tried tried to do a good job

111and do as much as he could to help people and and be appropriate and wise in what he did, but he tried to make friends with most people. Didn't want to make enemies. He wanted to make people understand what his point was and and appreciate their point of view and try to work things out. Uh, I came here because you want nine something% more this year than you got last year. That's what I read on that forum. And I I don't know how many people here make nine or 10% more this year than they did last, but I I I don't think very many of them do. And so I don't see why you feel comfortable in assessing that kind of an increase on a a society which is a little bit concerned about many

112many things right now. Uh one thing I I went to buy a gallon of paint the other day and the last time I bought paint it was about $25 a gallon. another 70. Uh I I uh talked to my son-in-law who drives pickups and he's paying $80,000 for a pickup and I used to pay 20. And so the America and and this this whole process is going beyond my understanding of what it requires for me to live. And I I really appreciate these people that came with data about what you are doing. I I just noticed that you want a 9% increase. My salary didn't go up 9%. I don't know how many people here did, but I I would say very very few if any. And uh I don't when when you become administrator,

113do you lose contact with the people? You lose association with we human beings who live every day to try to keep ends meet and so on. It seems that way. It seems that people get in a different position in government and they they just forget that they're they were a person that they had the same problems that we we have. But I I I would very much suggest that you rethink what you're doing and and uh try not to increase the cost of whatever your processes are by any more than maybe 2% that people's salaries may go up that by that much. I don't know. But I I appreciate the opportunity of sharing that and God bless you in your work. >> Thank you, Mr. Sylvester. Andrew Young, followed by Milo Braden. How you doing?

114Uh it's Mr. Sun. Thank you. And Miss Bon. Yeah, Mr. Peterson and Mr. Smith. I know what it's like to be up here and have people, you know, bark at you. And I I know you go to church. I know you have kids. I know I know you're thinking of a lot of things that um us folks aren't. You know, you've got other things. And generally, when you're about to make a decision like this, you you've already kind of made your decision. Then you just got to go through the hassle of hearing everyone bark at you. And it's not fun. I know it. And uh we miss Sorry, I called you Sister Baitman, Miss Baitman, Miss King, Mr. Clement, Miss Lincoln, Miss Wilson. I mean, these are people. They they didn't get involved in this

115because they uh they don't love children or they don't love education. This is why they did it. They they want to they want to help. You look out there, you look at our homes, you look at they're working all day, they want to help and and they're caught in a bind. You know, they need resources to do it. And the way we do it right now is we pull it from the community and it's to educate children, but it's it's it's just gone too far. And so what you're hearing is you're hearing the community where they're saying it's it's bleeding. It's too hard. It's just gone too much, you know, and that's coming off on a lot of anger. They're not angry at you. They're they're angry that they're they're being pushed down too hard,

116not just by you, by everyone, the county and their city and the state and federal. And I know your intent is good. And uh I think you opportunity here to do something that we that will be very hard to do be very hard to do and that is to heal heal what has happened with the community um having you've heard this and this isn't just a a vocal majority this is actually a small amount that the silent majority are the ones that can't come here and they they feel the same way I know I I'm with them often they all feel like it's too much and uh you have an opportunity to heal it to restore a little bit of faith, a little bit of union where we have your backs, where we come and

117we say, "Look, they gave us a chance. They gave us a chance to get back on our feet. They gave us a We love the kids. We want to prioritize them, but they gave us a chance where we could just hold off just a little bit longer so people could get through this really bizarre economic time. I mean, we're going through a weird time. Have you ever been through something like this where things are going up so high? I mean, the swig drink is probably the most we ever spent on it. You know, the computers, they're the most they've ever cost. The desk, I know all your employees, the teachers, I know they deserve more. We know that the what you do is good. So, I just I I know you've probably made up your

118mind already, but you have an opportunity to heal it where we divided. We divided, but you have an opportunity to bring it back together here just by holding off. Stop on the raises. Just keep them where they're at or lower them if you can, and you'll heal it. Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. Braden. >> Yes. Men Braden. >> Say your first name again. >> Will you say your first name again? >> Mean. >> Thank you. >> Anyway, thank you for the privilege of speaking today. There's been many good thoughts uh presented today. Um I've always supported education. I am retired on a fixed income and um and I yeah I last year was over 10% increase and 11.57 this year. I I just think uh we have to be fiscal responsibility especially when we're

119talking about uh preparing to divide the district into three three divisions. Um because what's going to happen is they're going to come out with increases too because uh it's just the way it works. The bottom line is you you're going to start big and uh and you got to get it right. But I I think we need to be responsible and and hold the line just a little longer and not raise this taxes because uh It's it's coming. They have those who voted to get three districts out of one. Um it's it's going to be a real burden on the taxpayers. So anyway, I'm asking you to kind of hold the line now and and I I think uh we're just facing some big increases coming down the line and and uh if we can

120hold the line a little bit, it'll make it easier maybe next year and the following year when these new districts start that uh there going to be some uh big numbers out there. I know how budgets are padded. I know how uh each each individual group pads their budget so that uh they're ready for a budget cut anytime. Uh that's the way that's the way things work. And I can see waste. I I can just drive by the school. I I see uh sprinklers going on and overwatering just without even going inside. And we have beautiful schools in Eagle Mountain. The high school is is pretty elaborate. It's it's it's eyeopening. They have a beautiful school, beautiful high school. So I I know you do a good job and it's uh but I I think

121uh we need to be fiscal conservative just just for a while here because uh I don't see these districts coming in It's it's going to be very difficult. So, uh I'm asking you to hold on the budget and call it zero this year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Braden. Next up is Denell Cash, followed by Darren Sees. Is Denell here from Cedar Fort? It looks like D an E L L and I think the last name is Cash Daryl Cook from Cedar Fort and I have been called worse. Uh, like everybody else here, I'm concerned about your taxes also. And I didn't get a picture of the slide because it went too fast, but but every year it's been raised, at least in my opinion. And and this year was even worse. I want

122to I want to uh hope that you guys will cut as much as you can where you can be fiscally responsible. But I got one piece of property I I have a hard time understanding how they come up with this tax rate. This is a 1965 chicken coupe. It was built in 1965 and the taxes went up 460% this year. The roof is almost gone that the tin on it's almost gone. So we're putting because we're have to tighten up our budget. So we're going over the roof with snow coat to keep the rust from getting worse. and the taxes go up 460 60% a year. I guess I don't understand how that that happens. So I would hope you guys, you know, be fiscally responsible, understand maybe have to raise taxes a little bit

123because all the building and everything, but u I agree with a lot of these other guys, you know, that every year the tax has gone up. It's getting outrageous. Thank you, Darren. I think it's Swayazy. I may have gotten that wrong from Lehi. Okay. No, Darren. Lauren Brownley Brownley. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much for uh the presentation. by um Mr. Sunberg uh presentation was very detailed. I don't claim to understand most of it and I'm not sure that the board really understands it either because what the questions they were asking you but um you you mentioned a 1.75% increase. I think that was really misleading. I don't think that was uh particularly helpful in this conversation perhaps to get your point across but um when I think about uh prices. I I

124think inflation's about 2 point something. I know we've had a lot of inflation in the last few years, but 2 point something is not very much. And um in the private sector, when I get a wage increase, it's an average of 3%. That's what people are typically getting, the private sector. I don't know if that's true in the public sector or what you're used to, but if wages are going up by two or three and inflation's about two and three, how on earth can you justify asking us, bearing in mind what you heard tonight from everybody, 11.57%. Which is the actual dollar value increase that people have to pay. Despite all the rates and the numbers and the smoke screen that you showed earlier, it's 11.57%. you're asking people to pay out of their if

125they're lucky 3% increase this year. So, and then the conversation later seemed to be that you didn't really know what you're going to do with the money that oh, it would be helpful. Well, how many of us get the chance to say I'd like a 10% increase this year? I'm not quite sure what I'm going to spend it on, but I'm sure I can find something. Right? Everyone can find something to spend 10% on. So, I'm sure you can find something to spend it on, but let's just be considerate of those poor people who spoke tonight who on fixed incomes. I'm lucky I've got a job, so um I'm not on a fixed income, so I don't often pay attention to the tax increases, but when I saw my flyer this uh year, I thought,

126what the hell's going on? Why does why why does all my taxes go to the school board for heaven's sake? there's so many other things that are worthy of paying taxes for in in the in the city to keep the city running and yet it all goes to the school board. And um and then I saw the increase of, you know, 11.57. I thought, well, I didn't get that increase. Nobody else did. So, I think you guys got to really just think hard about what you're actually doing. Forget about the 1.75% and the 0001 increase or whatever it was on the rates. It's 11.57 in people's pockets which they don't have and which you don't need. So please vote no. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Ken Hoen followed by Guy Fugo. Is Ken here?

127Okay. Mr. Fugle, you're up. I'm Guy Fugle, Pleasant Grove. I'm a homeowner and a business owner and this uh tax increase will impact me. But uh board and superintendent, thank you for looking forward. Um, you know, a lot of us didn't have the opportunity to vote on a three-way split that we're facing here now. And I hope all of you uh, and I know you do, you see the impact that's going to come down the road by this three-way split. And, uh, and I hope all of you will vote yes for this tax increase. Nobody likes a tax increase, but you know, you're going to help us immensely in the new districts to lessen the impact that we'll have on future tax increases. And we'll continue to have them. And I know people in this

128room don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. But it's it's what's been dealt with this. It's what the legislature says we'll do. And so we're going to build three new school districts and they're going to be great school districts, but they'll take additional funding and additional taxes. And those people who voted for the splits didn't realize that going forward thinking that their taxes were going to be lowered. What a misconception. So, thank you for the work you do and especially for this evening in uh listening to everybody and their concerns. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um I now declare the comment section closed and we'll open up discussion for board members. So, I've heard from several people that um it's believed that we all came in here with our decision

129made. And I did not come in here with my decision made. With every positive, I also see a negative. And I just want to talk about a couple of those things. So, first of all, I want to talk a little bit about what some of this budget goes to. I think some of the misconceptions are that um our big budget items are curriculum that we're throwing out in the dumpster or other things that are brought up a lot. Um and we don't necessarily take into account how much it costs to keep lights on in a commercial building or run bathrooms for 84,000 students. And these are some of the things that this money goes to. Um the increase would go toward neighborhood schools funding unfunded bus routes, special education classroom support, um going towards teacher

130salaries and small class sizes and um potential lowering of federal funding. And um as was also mentioned, if we don't pass it, then we're not looking forward. We're not paying attention to what's going to happen. And then my cons list. Um I sat through this meeting last year and I um I remember feeling a lot of the same things and seeing the increase and really seeing in the myself in the comments and I do this this year as well. Um inflation is really high and all of our families are feeling it. Um this would be flexibility for new boards. Um, and I see that as both as mostly a pro. Um, but I also feel like we do need to restore some trust. I um I feel like waiting and seeing and um knowing that

131taxes are going to go up, letting the new boards um make those decisions. Um, honestly, I would love to hear um you guys' thoughts on it because I literally am 50 on it at the moment. Um, Emily, I didn't want to cut you off. Are you Are you done making comments? >> I'm done. Please go ahead, Sarah. >> Um, I I want all three of our future school districts to succeed. And I was adamantly opposed to the split, but I believe we must honor the will of the people who voted for the split in November. The message from the community was loud and clear last November and they they wanted more local control. They wanted more fiscal transparency. They wanted more fiscal responsibility. A group of patrons that I spoke with just this last week

132and they were against everything I said last year, they were supportive of the split. They had expressed concerns and strong feelings that the elected school board members were not respecting their concerns about raising property taxes. And I know that it's just one increment, but every tax starts small. And I believe our job is to ask, is it necessary? Tonight, our BA assured us that we are already at the 20 increment that the state asked districts to maintain to qualify for full guarantee funding. So, I'm I'm I'm really not in support of a tax increase, and I'm voting no because I believe that we can prepare for this transition responsibly by living within our current means. I think we can avoid decisions that's going to lock cities into tax increases, especially before our new districts are

133they're formally created. And respecting the will of the voters, even though I didn't agree with them, I think I need to respect the fact that they voted what they voted for. And so we need to allow these future districts to decide what's best for their own communities and for their own future. And for that reason, I'm I'm not for the tax increase. I have a couple of thoughts here. Um I wanted to answer to the questions we were asked earlier. The first one is, are you listening? I am always listening. I'm listening in the grocery store. I'm listening when I'm waiting for cheer pickup. Um, I do phone calls while I'm driving in my car everywhere. Um, the other day I was out picking up something in my lawn and a neighbor walked by and

134we had a 90-minute conversation. Um, the decisions that I make aren't for lack of listening, it's because of how many people I do hear from. And while I appreciate everybody who has come here tonight, um, these comments aren't representative of all of the people I hear from. So balancing the needs between those who are retired in Fistix's home and those who so desperately need some relief is a really delicate balance. Um and the question, do you care? I probably care more than I should. Um it would be very easy to come up here and just say no and to make that decision, but we have a responsibility to kids. We have a responsibility to our employees. Um and keeping them safe is one of the primary responsibilities. Um last year when we we studied school

135closures and we wanted to consolidate several schools and the patrons in those areas came and they overwhelmingly said please don't please wait and let a new board do this. The right decision would have been to close those schools and to save that money. But we said you know what okay we'll hold but this is going to take a significant investment from the board. And I think once a decision happens that people are happy with, they don't think through u the implications and the ramifications of those actions. So there um have been multiple things that we've tried to do over the years that we haven't had um the board support to do. We've been talking a lot about three strong districts. And when I say that I want three strong districts, it's not just a line.

136I genuinely want each area to be successful. And that's why I was a proponent of the split. we have very different needs going on in each way and as I've been on finance the entire time I've been on the board if we would have stayed together there would have been a much more significant impact. So trying to do something that gives each board a starting place. Um I think it would be really hard for new boards to have to tackle raising taxes right off the bat. But also please know that we make a conscious choice each year in our budget meeting to hold off on things that are asked for year after year. They come and they ask for electricians. That's for plumbers, for bus drivers, um so many things that honestly we run so

137lean I I wish that I could show everybody that window. Um we also sometimes choose to fund a portion of something. So we might choose to say we're going to do 20% of this ask. So we have asked everybody to cut and to cut and we rarely give what is being asked for. Um the other thing I think is important to know is that we do not determine your home value. I too see a value go up and think that I didn't do anything great to my house but yet that number goes up. So that's from the county assessor. Um another thing I wanted to share is that our legislators have asked us to utilize our tax increments. So while they were able to give a tax decrease in order to keep our rate we

138need to do a small increase. Um some of the curriculum changes as required by the state. So when new curriculum comes in it's because we're required to change it. Um, we also have some safety bills that we need to comply with. Those things are not determined by us, but we are the ones who get to implement it. Um, I don't think anybody enjoys doing this. It's a really hard thing to sit here and know what our needs are, uh, what our asks are, and what the reality is. It's my least favorite thing every year to go through. Um, and I don't make a decision before I come because before I come, I hear from people, some who say, "Please don't." And some who say, "Can you please do more? We need full-time SRO's in our

139junior highs. We need more in our schools. We need to take care of our kids. Um I think we do a really good job. I know our buildings look great, but we have a lot of kids in those buildings and we want them to learn and to reach their full potential. So, I hope that you all consider that um regardless of how we vote that we have a large variety of constituents that we need to represent. Thank you. I have a lot of notes here because I listened a lot. Thank you for every single one of you who came to comment tonight. You are heard and thank you for those who came from Cedar Fort. You know this. Thank you for caring enough to come and talk to us. Um, I understand your concerns and

140I want to echo what one of you said, I think it was Jonathan, that you need to understand that every income tax decrease on the state level takes away our education money. That is money that could have been your tax relief. And every time they reduce income taxes, it puts pressure on every school board in the state of Utah to increase property taxes because that's the only avenue we have. There is nothing else, just property tax. And it's the most egregious tax to raise because you have no you can control your income and you can, you know, do things to to supplement it. You have some control, but you have no control over the value the valuation of your property. And and and having the property uh does not mean that you have the income

141to pay the taxes on it. And I understand that this is the most egregious tax. And it is painful to understand and know what we are asking. And I that's why I'm very proud that we do not tax to the max. As as Mark was saying, we do not tax. We are well under what we could tax you. And we try to avoid steep uh clims and dips so that it's there's no um steep changes for up or down. We try to keep it level so that there's not that shock um factor. I need to refer to my notes. I understand that your tax notice is kind of shocking and this you know gentleman kept you you're saying 11.57 that is not the true amount. That's the amount for the full four increments. uh we

142are only doing one increment. So it it's deceptive. We've tried we've been working with our county officials to make it more opaque and more indicative of what we're really asking, but it's it's kind of governed by some state laws. They have to um check some boxes. um at by its nature it is only a notice of tax increases. It doesn't have a way of showing the decreases. And because we have so many uh levies, school taxation is much more complex than say your water district, your city, your county. There's theirs is just a oneline item. Ours is complex and it's hard to understand. I admit um the fact that we currently do not have a general obligation bond also puts a lot of pressure on us. We are a growing district. Parts of us are

143not growing while other parts are growing and that's contributed to the decision to divide. But I happen to belong to the part that did have not have any vote. We did not decide to divide. We did not participate in the vote. But yet we are left with the highest deficit in the potential budget. It's over $22 million. I have to think about that. I have to think about how how we are going to function July 1st of 2027. It's not if to if we leave it to a future board when they're able to tax, it will be too late. It's too late. There will not be functioning uh computer systems. There will not be a district office. There will not be a bus garage. There will not be facilities for special education. There will not

144be a facilities for alternative high schools. These are things that we have to think about. We are short facilities. We are in a deficit and this tax will help us begin to address that. We have to understand, I think this gentleman said it very well, that when we we chose to divide, we chose for more expense. There is no way that it's going to be less expensive to have three districts instead of one. Um, let's see. I think I already talked about that. Already talked about that. I do want to recognize that we have professionals in our um our business department who go through a very transparent budget process. It it has layers where everybody, you know, it's not a wish list by the time it gets to the board. It's an absolute need list.

145And it is this long on a on a legal spreadsheet. We cannot fund even half of that. We have to drop we have to tell people no. Um it is kind of a it's a painful process, but it is transparent and we have reports on our website where you can see exactly what where things are going. We as a school district get more dollars to the classroom than almost any other district. It's more than 70% of our budget. This is an accomplishment of our business department. They they trim cost and get it to the classroom where it makes a difference in your child's life. Um, I know in my area there's been some kicking the can down the road as far as addressing what needs to happen as far as schools with very low enrollments,

146who um are costing us more to keep open and not serving our students well. I am not that person who is willing to do that anymore. I we're not going to be kicking the can down the road anymore in the South if if I have anything to do with it. We need to cut costs. We must cut costs and I am willing to do that and say that publicly. Um if I I think there's been a mention of of waste. If you see egregious examples of waste, I would encourage you to go on our website. There is a feedback button and we would like to know um where you see that. I know that some things look wasteful. I I know you mentioned the curriculum. we are required to um update our curriculum so that

147our kids are receiving especially in science and math you know accurate um state-of-the-art instruction uh and that's required by the state. Um, I think that that's about all I had to say except that I, you know, when you get a picture from a parent of an athlete who has abrasions across their shoulder because we have deferred the maintenance on the Mountain View High School track for 10 years. That's a problem. We have deferred maintenance for some sometimes for years and years and we are just trying to eat away at that list. Um so that our facilities are safe and functioning properly and that our tracks are not a hazard, a legal hazard actually. Um so yes we do have needs. We have facilities that have to be maintained. We have to meet the requirements um

148imposed on us by legislation every year. The majority of the legislation is about education and those uh requirements of the law. We have to meet them. That is our obligation. We have to meet it whether there's funding or not. So I I just want to say that we care about your children. We care about your family and I am going to be voting yes on this tax increase. >> I just wanted Sarah, you're still hanging around. I think you said you were voting no on the increase. Does that mean you would prefer the three increments instead of the four? >> I'm a no, Mark. >> No on all four. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thanks for clarifying. >> So, I want to apologize. I don't ever intend to gaslight, but I have a very grumpy resting

149face. Um, and and I apologize. I wish on nights like tonight I had a magic wand that I wasn't sitting across from this desk and with very formal ways that we can communicate. I really wish that we could sit down and have interactions. I tried to reach out to lots of the constituents in my area. I sent over 2,000 emails to go out. 2,000's kind of important because that's where Google likes to spam you. So, you can't do more than that um at a time. Anyway, I've tried really hard. I've knocked doors. I've tried to talk. And as I've tried, I listen. And I think it's really important that we need to have a premise that listening and agree are not the same words. that I can listen and I can empathize like I do

150every time I sit here and people come before to bring their grievances. Um I I taxes are hard. Um I would love to say with I'm making bank with the money that I make apparently with this gig. Um but my husband says I'm spending more than I'm bringing in and that's an issue apparently. And by that I mean my $12,000 stipen I turn around and spend on classrooms and teachers and schools and I don't take insurance. Um so it's a cost effect a cost to sit here and to serve but I do it because I love it because I'm really good at policy. But I hate nights like tonight and I agree four increments is an 11% 10%ish tax increase. That's too much. I'm willing to do four increments if we subtract three, which according

151to the math that I learned in first grade and second grade, and you draw and you memorize, 4 minus 3 is one. That's a fourth of what the statement that arrived in every mailbox says. If one increment, if four is a roughly 10%, that makes one about 2.5% which is roughly the cost of inflation. And when I started looking at all of the districts around me, because I always believe that good data is good data. So, I'm going to go check out and see what everybody else is doing. 2.5% of an increase is barely holding on compared to our neighbors. our lovely neighbors in Provo. Somebody said, "Well, they have so much better things in Provo, so why can't you be like that and vote no?" But in Provo, on a $500,000 home, they're spending

152$300 more in taxes year after year after year than their counterpart in Alpine. So, I wish we had ways where I could communicate that I feel and I hear and I'm going to have to probably walk 20 miles tonight just because it weighs so heavy on my mind. Um, but it's important because otherwise we have to say no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. When they come and say I need a bus, when they come and say please, please, please keep my building open just a little longer. when they come and say please please please the school state changed the rules on science or on school fees which used to be a user fee but now we have to bring it into the taxes but we need money to do

153science experiments and I taught science you can't do science with just a book and paper and expect kids to love science and if kids don't love science and math then we're in serious trouble because there's no professions to move on to um and so it's a balance and so I appreciate the 30-ish of those of you that spoke and I appreciate those that responded to the emails that I sent and I wish we had time to sit into dialogue because there are solutions. And for me going forward today, I think the best plan forward is the four increment raise minus the three increment which gives us a one increment. So maybe I can tell the people in Eagle Mountain, yeah, you don't have to have your kids walk across the road that I know my

154friends drive at 70 miles an hour cuz I've seen them um so their kid can get to school safely. So it's a balance and I that's it's a balance and I am sorry that it has to be a balance. If only I had a magic wand that made it so it didn't have to be a balance that we could all get exactly what we want. I will now entertain a motion to set the fiscal year 2025 to 26 final tax rate for Alpine School District at 0.005774 as proposed. Do I have a motion? I move that we set the final Alpine School District total tax rate at 0.005774 for fiscal year 2025 2026. >> Second. >> I have a motion from board member Lincoln to set the fiscal year 202526 final tax rate for Alpine

155School District at 0.005774 005774 and a second from board member Wilson. Any discussion? >> Um, so I've landed on I would be okay with a tax neutral if we went up three and down three. Um, I don't feel like we need to go up four because the three is still a three increment increase. That's kind of where I've landed just for discussion purposes. Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. Board member Wilson, >> I. >> Board member Lincoln, >> I. >> Board member Clement, >> I. >> Board member King, >> I. >> Board member Baitman, I. Board member Peterson, >> nay. >> Board member Bon, >> nay. Alpine School District Board of Education approves the following property tax rates for fiscal year 2025 to 2026 as the final tax rate and part of the 2025

156to 26 budget. Basic school levy 0.001379 set by the state board local levy 0.0000977 no change voted local levy 0.00115 no change capital local levy 0.001729 which is plus004 above certified tax rate debt service levy 0.00444 which is minus.003 below required for fiscal year 25 payments and the charter school levy 0 0093 which is set by the state for a total of 0.005774. Um this concludes our evening tonight. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Having reached the end of our agenda, I move that we adjourn. >> So moved.