The Tooele County School District (TSD), Alpine School District (ASD), and Granite School District (GSD) all held public hearings on August 5th, 2025, to propose increases in property taxes, raising concern amongst their residents.
Alpine School District’s School Board members voted to approve the property tax increases shortly following the meeting. Box Elder School District is also holding a public hearing next week to discuss a proposed tax increase.
Details on each school district’s public hearing are available below.
Alpine School District held a public hearing on increased property taxes and then voted to approve that increase. The average household, with a market value of $520,000, will see an increase of $28.6 per year. The tax increase should generate approximately $22 million in additional revenue.
ASD residents voted last November to split Alpine School District up into three new school districts, which will occur in 2027. School Board Vice President Stacey Bateman voted in favor of the increased property taxes and believes the revenue will be essential for those new school districts.
“We have the opportunity now to do something that gives each new school board a strong starting position, instead of them needing to raise taxes sharply in two years,” said Bateman.
During the public hearing, some residents argued that the new property taxes would be essential to supporting programs in the new districts. Other residents argued that property increases within ASD were becoming habitual and pushing financial burdens on residents.
Residents can find more information about this property tax increase here.
Granite School District (GSD) held a public hearing on August 5, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in order to discuss increase property taxes that would give GSD an additional $17,798,520 for the 2025-2026 school year.
The increased revenue would come from increased property taxes. On $565,000 residences, property taxes would increase from $1,151.33 to $1,257.61, or an additional $106.28 per year. For the median business, valued at $565,000, property taxes would increase from $2,093.33 to $2,286.56, or $193.23 per year.
Under this proposed budget, property tax revenue would make up 38.33% of all governmental funding for GSD. Granite has outlined several priorities in their 2025-2026 budget plan, which includes “step and lane advancements for educators and other District employees, cost-of-living adjustments for each District employee, [and] adjustments to the district formula for allocating full-time educators to grades K-2.”
Opponents of the tax increase raised concerns about declining enrollment rates, low literacy rates, and ineffective spending priorities.
Those who supported the tax increase argued that the revenue was necessary and should go to support teachers and low-income families. They also said that the increase could provide enrichment and improved conditions for students and teachers.
Individuals can find more information about GSD’s budget here.
Tooele County School District held a heated ‘Truth in Taxation’ public hearing in which they discussed decisions proposed in a June budget hearing. In that budget hearing, they proposed increasing property tax revenues.
Under the proposed increase, property tax on a $475,000 residence would increase from $1,139.31 to $1,423.55 each year, amounting to $284.24. Property tax on $475,000 businesses would increase by $516.80 each year, from $2,071.48 to $2,588.28.
As a result of those tax increases, TCSD would receive an additional $9,250,573 and would increase its budgeted revenue by 8.06% above last year’s.
During the meeting, residents were very outspoken about the proposed tax increase. Some spoke out on their concerns about low literacy and proficiency rates, while others addressed concerns on the financial burden they faced due to increased taxes.
Additionally, residents raised concerns about Tooele County School District’s poor audit results and called for more effective budgeting.
One commentator called for the resignation of two school board members and made comment on one’s title of ‘Doctor.’ The school board member called those comments ‘very disrespectful, and the public hearing then deteriorated into a shouting match.
That individual, Steve Garrett, told ABC4.com, “We have families that are worried about paying for groceries and these kinds of expenses just being passed down to them. We can’t pay more money unless, at the very least, we need some people to resign.”
The public hearing went on for several hours, with over a dozen individuals speaking out against the proposed tax increase.
More information on Tooele County School District’s proposed budget increases can be found here.
McKenzie Diaz and Nicholas Rewey contributed to this story.
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