WELLINGTON—Wellington City Council Chambers were busting at the seams on Aug. 13, as individuals flooded the room to voice their concern regarding the proposed tax increase that Wellington City has proposed. With the room packed full of people and no air conditioning, residents found themselves heated, both figuratively and literally. The meeting even gained the attention of Fox 13 News, who was in attendance filming.
Mayor Jack Clark opened the meeting with a few pertinent facts about the increase prior to opening public comment. Clark advised that he understands that “this is a pretty harsh thing to swallow.”
Clark wanted to clarify that the proposed tax increase is not for the new city building, employee raises or for new wants. The proposed tax increase would be used to help maintain current infrastructure needs, support public safety departments and to preserve the city and its future.
Clark informed citizens that the reason that they didn’t choose the route of a gradual increase is due to inflation, staffing, rising utility cost and the fact that taxes haven’t increased since 2017. Another issue that the city has faced was the complete turnover of staff, which resulted in the loss of valuable institutional knowledge.
Clark advised that he and Councilmember Barney Zauss are the only ones who had been in their positions for the last four years, advising that everyone else sitting with him was brand new. Clark advised that his predecessor Brad Timothy was the one who initially started to tackle the budget issues that the city was facing and he is attempting to finish his endeavor to ensure that the city is in a place financially to continue.
Currently with the proposed tax increase the city’s total revenue would increase to $1,646,775, with the city’s expenses being $1,673.325, which would still leave the city facing a deficit of $26,550.
Clark then moved to open public comments, giving residents a three-minute limit to ensure each resident had an opportunity to speak. Residents were asked to state their names and to sign the public comment form.
Bill Barnes was the first one to approach council, in which he implored the city to push things off that they couldn’t afford. Barnes advised that as an individual if he can’t afford a project, he simply puts it off until he can.
Barnes expressed that often times residents don’t attend city council meetings because [they] elected them to do the job. Barnes joked stating, “I’ve got stuff to do, like get a nap in the evening.”
Barnes continued on stating, “Your failure to plan does not constitute my emergency. I don’t need to jump because somebody messed up.”
Barnes ultimately asked for the council to go back to the drawing board.
Mayor Jack Clark urges citizens to offer solutions to avoid the possibility of laying off officers or city workers
Clark expressed he understands how difficult this increase would be for many of Wellington’s residents but without an increase the city would face cuts.
“I am open to suggestions. You tell me where you would like me to cut. You want me to get rid of an officer? I’ll get rid of an officer,” said Clark. “You want me to get rid of my city workers? I’ll gladly do that.”
Clark then asked, if that happens, who are residents going to call in an emergency, whether it’s a medical emergency or a city emergency. He shared how he had city workers out past midnight on Christmas morning to fix a water line to ensure residents didn’t go without water.
Clark also expressed that they are doing the best they can trying to fix an issue that existed long before them.
As each resident came up to the podium, many of them expressed the same sentiment, that this increase is unattainable for so many of Wellington’s residents who are on a fixed income.
Some even expressed heartfelt pleas to the city to reconsider as this type of increase would force many individuals out of their homes.
Some felt the city had a spending issue that hadn’t been addressed, with others even criticizing the state of Utah for passing legislation that forces rural towns to follow suit or face fines.
Some residents felt as though this tax increase would not only scare potential homeowners from moving to the area but also potential businesses and investors.
One resident shared that she is a licensed Realtor in Carbon County and how she had found the perfect home for one of her clients, expressing that it was in their budget and it was everything they were looking for. Unfortunately, her clients refused to even look at the home due to this possible increase.
Sam Espinoza, Wellington resident for 72 years stated” I ask that the council listen to the citizens who’ve spoken tonight.”
As residents continued to get up and voice their concerns, several ran out of time with their fellow neighbors audibly offering up their time to allow them to finish.
After each resident finished their speech a round of applause echoed throughout the room.
Ryan Madsen, owner of the Coyote’s Well in Wellington, though unable to attend, had an email she had written the city read aloud by Councilmember Bryan Thayn.
Madsen expressed her fear of what this increase would do to the citizens of Wellington and current and future business owners.
Following her email, Madsen’s mother, Tara Madsen, who is the Carbon County Treasurer, wanted to address those in attendance. Tara wanted to inform residents of the abatement program that the county has available to residents who met certain criteria. Tara urges residents to give her a call to see if they qualified for one of their programs.
Discussion was had about a potential developer coming in to develop over 100 homes in Wellington, advising that this would be a huge increase in revenue for the city. This concerned one of the residents, imploring him to ask council if this developer has the water shares, they need to make something like that happen. Clark advised he wasn’t sure as the developer had been working with planning and zoning.
As things were coming to an end, Cody Austin, who is a resident of Wellington and in the running for the four-year city council seat, took to the podium, not to address council, but to address Edward Chavez, who is running for the mayor seat. Austin asked Chavez was his plans were to fix the budget issue if he were elected. A resident spoke up advising he didn’t feel this was the time or place for this type of commentary as this period is for residents to ask current council members questions.
This caused things to escalate quickly as Austin proceeded to tell the individual ” I wasn’t talking to you either.” Another resident jumped to their defense asking Austin how he planned to fix this issue as he is in the running for city council.
Chief Tom Kosmack quickly intervened, advising that this meeting would remain civil and discussion would be kept to the topic at hand.
Bringing the meeting to an end, council agreed unanimously to postpone any decision on the tax increase. However, the city does not have much time, as they only have until October to decide.