The 6.95% tax increase will bring $450,000 in additional revenue to the city. It will raise the annual city property tax cost for a residence of $520,000 from $168.74 to $180.47, and for a commercial property of $520,000 from $306.80 to $328.12. 

The consensus during the four-hour meeting was that the Orem Police Department needs additional support. The question posed to the council was whether raising property taxes was the best way to provide the support. 

Data presented showed the department has used 18,000 hours of overtime in the past year. Police Chief BJ Robinson said his staff is spread too thin, getting burned out and dealing with increasingly difficult calls regarding domestic violence, sexual assault and mental health crises. Robinson said getting two new officers would not solve the problem, but would help solve the problem. 

“We have always done more with less because that is the Orem way. But we finally reached a breaking point to where we need to cover the most basic police services,” Robinson said. “We have to cut into the muscle of our organization, which we have done. If we cut any more, we’re going to be cutting into bone,” he said. 

Many residents who spoke during a public comment period expressed support for the department but believed raising taxes was not the best route to solve the challenges. 

“Since 2017 when we moved into our present homes, we have watched our property taxes go from $2,900 to $4,200 in nine years, which is a 67% increase,” Mike Preston said. “We are retired and live on a fixed income and can’t help but feel we are being taxed right out of our home.”

Resident Judy Cox spoke out against the city’s creation of a special revenue fund for public safety in May and claimed it funneled property tax from the general fund to cover the existing budget, creating a false shortfall. 

“Vote no on the tax increase,” Cox said. Work with existing discretionary funding to hire the officers that we clearly need, and commit to dismantling this revenue fund so that we can get out of a trap that sets us all up for future tax hikes.” 

Former City Councilman Hans Andersen suggested the city use reserve funds to pay for the officer shortage. 

“You’ve got the money. You’ve got a lot more than $450,000,” he said. 

Finance Director Brandon Nelson defended the city’s request to raise taxes, saying that using one-time surplus dollars to fund an ongoing expense goes against the city’s budget principles. 

“What does that lead to? Not good things,” he said. “Maybe a $40 trillion-dollar debt, for instance.” 

Nelson also said that the city cannot be as reliant on sales tax revenue as it once was. In 2023, he said there was a 0.3% increase in sales tax, and in 2024, a 1% decrease and a 3.1% increase in 2025. 

“Those are not giving us any additional dollars to work with in an inflationary environment. For those people who think ‘Oh well, the city is receiving the benefit of that inflation,’ we are not. … How we have done it in the past is, we have been, if you will, the king of sales tax, and so we’ve lived off of that sales tax. That is no longer the case.” 

Chief Robinson expressed support for moving public safety into a special revenue fund, saying the department knows what the baseline of their budget will be, and that it helps citizens know that 100% of their property taxes will go toward public safety. Nelson added that the budgeting that occurs is no different whether public safety is in a separate public safety fund or not. 

The majority of the council sided with city staff, some citing that property taxes still remain low compared with neighboring cities and that the move needed to be made. 

“The question to me is whether it’s fiscally responsible to fund permanent public safety obligations with temporary savings, volatile revenues or one-time capital dollars, and I don’t believe it is,” Councilwoman Jenn Gale said. 

Added Councilman Jeff Lambson: “Tax increases are not easy but I feel like it is the fiscally responsible thing to do to make sure we have that foundation and baseline and that we can continue to have the level of service that we’ve come to expect here in Orem.” 

The two dissenting votes were from Councilmembers Crystal Muhlestein and LaNae Millett. 

Millett said supporting first responders and being careful with residents’ tax dollars should not be competing values. She said the $450,000 needed to be found in the existing budget. 

“(We have a) $177 million budget. We can’t find $450,000? 2.5%? Of course we can,” she said.