Ogden Valley officials mull seeking help from Lt. Gov. Henderson with budget issues

OGDEN VALLEY, Weber County — Given the economic upheaval Ogden Valley faces, city leaders want to approach the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office about getting financial help of some sort to help them contend with the situation.

Officials believe the state office, which oversees the process for communities going through the incorporation process to become cities, bears some responsibility for the financial issues the new Weber County locale faces, underscored by the specter of a 506% property tax hike. Mayor Janet Wampler broached the idea of approaching Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson's office on the issue during an Ogden Valley City Council work session on Thursday, getting supportive feedback.

"I would personally like to be allowed to initiate conversations to see what kind of compensation we might be able to garner out of that," Wampler said, stressing that she envisions "very friendly" discussions on the issue. "I'm not insinuating that we would go off and sue or do anything else. I'm talking about talking to them about what actually happened."

Ogden Valley became a city last January after more than three years of efforts, but as officials started crafting the 2026-2027 budget last spring, they found they faced a significant shortfall and would need to boost property taxes by more than 500% to cover the costs of running the locale. The city's draft budget document notes that expected sales tax revenues are dramatically below projections from a 2023 feasibility study commissioned by the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office, which was key in allowing the incorporation process to proceed.

"At a very minimum, the lieutenant governor's office needs to be briefed on our experiences and the situation that the (incorporation) legislation puts us in, which makes the actions of the incorporation office critical," said Kay Hoogland, a City Council member. She also hinted at the possibility of Henderson promoting legislation to tweak the incorporation process to address the issues the Ogden Valley officials face.

To deal with the shortfall, Ogden Valley officials have been mulling a 506% property tax hike to generate the extra $1.5 million or so they say they need to properly run the city. But because of a missed deadline last January in the incorporation process that's outlined in state tax code, the Utah State Tax Commission said the city couldn't pursue the increase.

The city officials also pointed a critical finger at the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office for that missed Jan. 1 deadline, related to filing of the certificate of incorporation for the new locale. City officials sued the tax commission last month in a bid to overturn its determination, but a Utah judge ruled Monday in favor of the tax body, stymying the challenge.

"I am not aware of any prior incorporation where there was such a (financial) shortfall ... from a feasibility study followed by a delay in issuing the certificate of incorporation," Hoogland said.

The missed deadline occurred, city officials say, despite their requests to Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office officials to issue the needed certificate of incorporation by Dec. 29, 2025. A document inadvertently filed last December by city officials without a required signature figured in the delay, and the certificate was issued on Jan. 2, a day past the deadline.

'The right thing to do'

A rep from Henderson's office didn't immediately respond to a query Thursday seeking comment. Nevertheless, the Ogden Valley officials seem ready to approach her to discuss the topic, though they didn't say when they may reach out or provide specifics of what they might seek.

"I don't think the optics are bad for us," said City Councilman Don Hickman. Approaching Henderson's office is "the right thing to do."

In the wake of Monday's ruling by 3rd District Court Judge Todd Shaughnessy, the Ogden Valley officials discussed the idea of appealing his decision to the Utah Supreme Court. They were to discuss the possibility during a closed session Thursday.

The judge, while sympathetic to the situation Ogden Valley faces, noted that the tax commission rule in question that tax authorities cited in rebuffing the city's tax-hike plans doesn't conflict with state law.

Because city officials didn't identify any conflicting state law "the court cannot find the rule to be an unlawful exercise of the commission's statutory rule-making authority. The rule is enforceable, the city was created one day too late through no fault of its own and the commission is therefore entitled to judgment as a matter of law," Shaughnessy wrote. Judge Catherine Conklin in 2nd District Court in Ogden had originally been hearing the case, but it was transferred to Shaughnessy.

In the absence of a property tax hike, Ogden Valley officials have said they'd pursue a transportation utility fee to help cover expected road maintenance costs and reduce spending elsewhere. The proposed 506% tax hike would boost taxes on a owner-occupied home valued at $1.22 million, the average, from $106.90 to $647.43 a year.

Feasibility studies to determine if proposed new locales can operate without boosting taxes are key in allowing incorporations to proceed. If the studies don't show a likely budget surplus going forward of at least 5%, an incorporation process may not proceed.

The 2023 Ogden Valley study, which overestimated likely tax revenue, provided projections that were "artificially inflated and did not reflect normal long-term revenue growth," Ogden Valley's budget document reads. "At the same time, the feasibility study underestimated the startup expenses of a newly incorporated city."

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