BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah — Box Elder County residents are upset about a property tax increase earlier this year, and how the school district is handling those funds. With a new bond on the table, causing confusion and concerns for those who live in the area.
The Box Elder School District board approved a property tax increase of $343 per household per year, and double that amount for businesses in August of this year. It was a 37 percent revenue increase for the district to help with teacher and staff raises, along with overcrowding issues.
Voters told FOX 13 News that they are upset over the board's approval, a year after they failed to pass a bond measure that would do the same thing. The bond measure on the ballot in 2024 was for $220 million, and failed with about 63 percent of voters against it.
"We don’t need to spend millions and millions of dollars to put kids through education programs,” said Tremonton resident Keenan Haramoto. “There’s other options, and I think the school district could do a better job of looking into different sources instead of just erecting buildings and hiking taxes."
The growth across the county has led to overcrowding in schools, according to Box Elder School District superintendent Steve Carlsen.
"We need to do something,” said Carlsen. "In each portable, you have about 20-25 kids, so there’s just kids in portables, they're unsafe, they’re not as good teaching environments."
The property tax increase faced a lot of opposition, with heated comments and a continuing frustration with the board.
"People get emotional when they're talking about money, and you can’t just tell them to calm down, or present them with facts,” said Perry resident Shane Blakeley. “Once they feel invalidated, good luck getting them back."
Blakeley voted against the bond measure in 2024 and was “disheartened” that the board went through with the tax increase. He has more questions about how the money is being spent by the district.
"Where is that money going, and why is that not sustaining what they need?" asked Blakeley.
Voters said the whole ordeal broke their trust.
"When the bond didn’t pass, it didn’t make our problems go away,” explained Carlsen,
Carlsen said they had to come up with a way to fund the upgrades and new buildings.
"There was just no other avenue for us to do that,” he said. “We just felt like if we waited, we were just really going to leave this school district in a real bind for every year that passes and we don’t make something happen."
The district is now using the $9.2 million raised with the tax increase to pay for a $130 million bond to help renovate and build.
"A lease revenue bond, once again in its simple form, is the mortgage, and the $9.2 million that we're going to increase in property tax is what’s going to be the yearly payment,” explained Carlsen.
This is a different bond that will not raise taxes, but voters said they worry about the long-term implications of the tax increases and loans.
"Some can say, oh, it’s for the children. What’s for the children?" questioned Blakeley. "The debt that they're going to have to pay off?"
