Proposal 9 - Local Special Bond Question

Shall Salt Lake County, Utah, be authorized to issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $507,000,000 and to mature in no more than twenty-one (21) years from the date or dates of issuance of such bonds for the purpose of providing funds for: 1) acquiring and constructing a Justice and Accountability Center primarily for people who have had multiple encounters with law enforcement and who need a supervised and structured environment with resources to reduce repeat offenses, including for mental health and substance abuse treatment, job related services, and connection to housing opportunities; 2) combining the two county jails into one and increasing capacity, including an expanded mental health unit and a transitional unit to prepare those exiting the jail to reenter the community; 3) completing necessary capital maintenance on existing correctional facilities and 4) acquiring, constructing, expanding, equipping, renovating and remodeling related County public safety facilities and ancillary buildings and, to the extent necessary, for providing moneys for the refunding, at or prior to the maturity thereof, of general obligation bonds of the County authorized hereunder or heretofore issued and now outstanding? A general obligation bond is a debt owed by the County. The County uses tax revenue to pay for the debt. If the bonds are issued as planned (which currently consists of 2 smaller issues of bonds totaling approximately $507,000,000 over the next 5 years, with each issue of bonds maturing approximately 20 years from the date it is issued), without regard to the taxes currently levied to pay outstanding bonds that will decrease over time, an annual property tax to pay debt service on the proposed bonds will be required over a period of 25 years in the estimated amount of $58.94 per year on a primary residence with the County average value of $602,000 and in the estimated amount of $107.16 per year on a business or secondary residence having the same value, which are equal to a monthly increase of $4.91 for an average residential property and $8.93 on a business property having the same value. The County currently levies property taxes to pay debt service on other outstanding general obligation bonds that have been issued to finance voter approved projects. The incremental property taxes would decrease upon the repayment of the currently outstanding bonds, but the decrease may not occur if the proposed bonds are issued. Taking into account the repayment of the outstanding bonds, the County expects that the issuance of the proposed bonds, in the manner currently expected, will result in a net property tax increase of $38.74 per year on a primary residence with the County average value of $602,000 and a net property tax increase of $70.43 per year on a business or secondary residence having the same value, which are equal to a monthly increase of $3.23 for an average residential property and $5.87 on a business property having the same value. The foregoing is only an estimate and is not a limit on the amount of taxes that the governing body may be required to levy in order to pay debt service on the bonds. The governing body is obligated to levy taxes to the extent provided by law in order to pay the bonds. In addition to the bond payment costs as outlined above, the average annual combined net operational and maintenance costs for these facilities during their first ten years of operation is projected to require additional annual expenditures of $12,206,135. If approved, the county will determine during its next budget cycle whether additional operational and maintenance costs may or may not require any additional funds from budget cuts or a tax increase.