10/25/2024
Providing for Road Maintenance and Snow Removal
Bottom Line: Weber County does not subsidize the valley. Instead, Ogden Valley pays more revenue to the county than it costs to operate. Although only 3% of the county's population, Ogden Valley constitutes 9% of the county's taxable property value and pays 56% of the Municipal Services Fund (MSF), which provides services to unincorporated areas. The 10% surplus in that fund, of which $3.6 million is attributed to valley revenue, is concrete proof of feasibility, including road maintenance and snow removal.
Ogden Valley has 98 miles of paved roads and 4.9 miles of dirt roads covered in winter with plenty of snow we will need to manage when incorporated. It is the single largest expense of the valley but also the source of a lot of income. The estimated cost for maintaining the valley roads is $955,193, and for snow removal is $833,626, for a combined cost of $1.7 million. There are more than enough funds to pay for these services.
Here is a full explanation of what roads we manage and how they will be maintained.
UDOT Roads: Currently, the Utah Department of Transportation manages and maintains all roads that provide access to any of the state's ski resorts. This includes Highways 39, 158, 166, and 167 (Trappers Loop). These roads are not a Weber County expense and will not be an expense of the new city. This is a large portion of the valley's road mileage.
After incorporation, Weber County will continue to be responsible for roads outside the city boundaries: Powder Mountain Road, the vast majority of North Ogden Divide, and Monte Cristo past the state shed.
How Roads Are Funded: It's important to understand how the county covers expenses for roads now. The county relies on the Municipal Services Fund, as well as various other state and federal revenue sources. This is the same way the new city will fund maintenance and snow removal. These state sources are:
● Sales Taxes: The largest revenue source is sales tax, which is received in two ways: 1) online state-wide sales taxes, allocated by population, and 2) taxes from brick-and-mortar businesses or "point of sales" in the city. In 2024, total sales tax revenue is estimated to be $2.1 million.
● State Funds: UDOT Class B&C Road Funds: These funds are derived from state-wide fuel taxes. The amount of money paid to each city or county is calculated based on the miles of road, type of road, and population associated with those roads. In 2024, the county is estimated to receive $703,000 from the state for Ogden Valley roads.
The combined 2024 estimated revenue from UDOT and sales tax equals $2.8 million, which exceeds the $1.7 million expense of road maintenance and snow removal. There are additional revenue sources, including but not limited to building permits, fines, business licenses, and the unincorporated services fund (city property tax).
Who Will Do the Work? - The city will contract with Weber County or other providers for maintenance and snow removal services, a common practice for smaller cities and towns. Weber County already has confirmed they were receptive to working with the new city as they do with other municipalities within the county. As a practical matter, the county is likely to be eager for valley revenue to cover their costs and maintain their valued staff and equipment already purchased to cover the valley.
What About Neglected Roads? - Some might wonder how the new city will repair a road the county has long neglected. Note that county road maintenance is not guaranteed to improve if we continue to be unincorporated. The status quo is likely to continue. By contrast, after incorporation, we can prioritize the valley's most critical repair needs rather than passively standing in line on the county's waitlist.
In sum, it's important to remember that Weber County does not subsidize Ogden Valley. Ogden Valley residents currently more than pay for themselves. This is why both the state's LRB feasibility study and the opposition's Utah Foundation study experts found that there's enough revenue to run a city, including maintaining roads, with a surplus of over 5%. The county's $3.6 million surplus from our taxes more than proves the experts’ conclusions.
