From housing to groceries to transit costs, everyone is feeling inflation. That includes Salt Lake County.
“We've had significant inflation, you know, and we've lost purchasing power,” said County Assessor Chris Stavros.
So, the county council approved a 14.6% property tax hike in the 2026 budget. By their calculations, the increase will generate around $36.5 million in additional tax revenue.
But covering gaps for the county didn’t sit well with everyone. Almost immediately, a group of residents filed a petition for a referendum to block the tax hike.
The county hasn't raised property taxes since 2019, and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson’s original budget proposal called for an almost 20% increase. She cited the steady rise in population and inflation that are making it more difficult to fund operations such as the jail, Meals on Wheels and flood control
Utah abides by the Truth in Taxation law. This means property tax revenue does not increase with inflation. In other words, just because a house increases in value doesn't mean it will be taxed at a higher rate.
Until now, the council has found other ways to budget for inflation, mainly through cuts. When voting on the 2026 budget, they finalized a decision to shut four county-run day care centers. The decision pushes 270 families to find options for their children by May 31, when the centers are destined to close.
According to Stavros, his department also consistently sees cuts, but it’s getting down to the bone.
“I'm running on a razor-thin margin with my budget,” he said. “Any further cuts would make it very difficult for me to meet my statutory obligations and deadlines.”
And it’s not like things are expected to get easier.
“The cost of providing the services countywide, not just for me, but every agency, has gone up,” Stavros said.
Goud Maragani is a litigation attorney who filed the original petition for a referendum that, if passed, would allow Salt Lake County residents to veto the tax increase.
“I can't control how much food costs and how much it goes up in price,” he said. “I can't control how much housing is, but we can control whether our property taxes go up, and so we're going to exercise the tool that we have to get control of this and to help make Salt Lake County more affordable.”
According to the county council, the property tax increase will come out to around $5 more a month for residents. But Maragani said that’s still unacceptable.
“It's $5 more for this a month, $10 more for electricity a month, $5 more for water a month, $100 more for insurance a month, this stuff adds up over time,” Maragani said. “This is not just $5 more a month. This is $5 on top of everything else we're already spending.”
Maragani said the council should cut what he deems unnecessary jobs within the county, like excess deputy mayors. Currently, Wilson has three deputy mayors and three associate deputy mayors, which expanded from a total of four from the previous administration under Ben McAdams.
“I don't know why she needed that many people,” Maragini said, “but if she thought this was a problem, that there's a budget problem, you think she would offer to cut some of her own staff.
Slimming “bureaucratic bloat” wouldn't be enough, however, said Adam Dynes, an associate professor of political science at Brigham Young University.
“The amount they're trying to raise, tens of millions of dollars a year, goes well beyond the cost of three staff members,” he said.
Maragani and his petition for a referendum are awaiting approval from the county clerk; if they get it, they will need around 45,000 signatures to be able to file a referendum in 2026.
