Thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to attend last night's City Council meeting regarding the Bond Issue!  A special thank you also to those brave souls who were willing to speak out publicly on this issue!!!

Below are my comments delivered during the public input portion of the meeting:

"Citizens, Mayor, City Council, my name is Carlton Bowen and I am a resident of American Fork City.  I rise today to speak in opposition to the proposed resolution.  This resolution seeks to significantly increase city debt and increases property taxes.  According to the June 2013 budget, our city is already 54 million dollars in debt, a significant amount of debt for a city our size.  This resolution seeks to add 20 million dollars more debt, a massive 40% increase in the debt burden on American Fork City taxpayers.  American Fork City property taxes are already some of the highest in our area, according to analysis of 10 surrounding cities done by the Daily Herald newspaper.  American Fork City residents, businesses, and taxpayers don't expect the City Council to significantly increase the cities debt burden and raise taxes.  We expect the city to live within its means.  And the city does have means.  In June of 2013, less than two months ago, the city had an unexpected tax surplus of 7.5 million dollars.  If roads are truly a priority to the city, this money could have been allocated to pay for the roads.  This surplus would have paid for 75% of the first 10 million dollars the city wants to borrow next year, without raising taxes, and without more debt!  I want to keep American Fork City great through fiscal responsibility.  I urge the City Council to abandon and vote against this resolution, which adds massive new debt and raises property taxes.  Thank you."

Several others spoke also; all spoke in opposition to the bond except for one.

Unfortunately, the City Council still voted to proceed with the massive additional borrowing and property tax increase.

Mayor Hadfield confirmed near the end of the meeting that the city did owe not just 54 million dollars, but actually just over 56 million dollars!

There was also a question about the tax revenue surplus.  I thought the City Council was aware of this since the amended budget dealing with this was passed so recently, but there was some confusion among Council on this issue.  The actual tax surplus according to the June 2013 amended budget is 7.6 million, but it wasn't all "sales" tax surplus.  The tax surplus was from several different city "revenue" funds, including a $500,000 surplus from sales tax.  The combined surplus from the various revenue funds totaled 7.6 million dollars.  My source for this is a document that I had to request from the city, because they didn't have it up on their web site.  The document title is "2013-06-10R City Budget Adjustments for 2012-2013.pdf".  Refer to page 6, under the "Revenues" section, which lists line by line where the additional revenues came from.  Note specifically the total of "45,497,800" for the column "approved budget 6/30/2012", and then compare that to the total of "53,122,700" for the column "Amended Budget 6/30/2013".  Remember, this is the revenue section, i.e. the money coming into the city.  The difference between the original approved budget's revenue and the amended budgets revenue is "7,624,900".  This is the additional budget revenue, or "tax surplus", that I'm talking about!

**Tax Surplus source:  "2013-06-10R City Budget Adjustments for 2012-2013.pdf", page 6, Revenues.**


By the way, one question I had meant to ask during the meeting but didn't was "what will the fees be for underwriting the bond?"  I was able to ask the "bonding agent" that question though, after the meeting.  (He didn't like me asking... part of that fee is probably his paycheck!)  I did get an answer, sort of.  The bonding agent said the fee is typically $2 to $8 per $1000 borrowed.  So let's see, on a 20 million dollar bond... 20 million divided by 1000 equals 20,000, times $2 at the low end equals $40,000, or times $8 at the high end equals $160,000.  Wow!  The city will have to pay bonding fees of 40K to 160k to borrow this money!   (That's on top of the 1 million in yearly interest!)

Dear fellow concerned citizen of American Fork City, 

Tonight (August 15, 2015) at 7:30 p.m. in a special session of the City Council, the city intends to increase our debt by 40% and our taxes by 7%.  There will be a public comment period at this meeting.  Will you join me in attending this meeting in the historic American Fork City Hall building (31 N. Church Street) and in speaking out to let our City Council and Mayor know that the citizens are opposed to this massive new borrowing and tax increase?  

What you can expect:

Expect the city to sugar coat this massive new borrowing and tax increase.  DON'T BE FOOLED!  

• The city will point out the roads that will be repaired and how much the repairs are needed. 
• The city will say it will take too long to repair the roads without massive borrowing.
• The city will say interest rates are low so now is a good time to borrow.
• The city will say there has been inflation so we need to raise taxes.
• The city will say the dollar amount of the tax increase isn't that much per citizen, so it's ok.
• The city may say other things that they think will fool you into supporting them on raising your  taxes and increasing the cities already high debt load by 40% more!

What you need to know:

• The city is already 54 million dollars in debt.  This is a very high debt burden for a city the size of American Fork City.
• The new borrowing of 20 million is a 40% increase in the cities debt load!
• The new borrowing comes with a property tax increase of 7%.
• Property values are near record lows, so as property values are assessed higher and higher in the future, the cities proposed tax rate hike will automatically cost us taxpayers even more and more in the dollar amount.
• The new borrowing will cost over 1 million dollars per year, just for interest.
• The city (us, the taxpayers) will owe this money for 20 years.
• The roads will be worn out and need to be repaired again long before we've paid off the debt.
• This is an Obama style increase in our debt - massive borrowing in a short period of time, with the current politicians spending all the money and future generations straddled with the debt burden for decades.
• Perhaps most crazy of all, the city had a 7.5 million dollar tax surplus (unexpected additional revenue) in June 2013, just two months ago!  That money, if spent on roads, would have covered 75% of the first 10 million they want to borrow in 2014! 
• The city currently sets aside money for road and capital improvement projects, AND COMPLETES THESE PROJECTS WITHOUT BORROWING!

There are better solutions:

1.  Use the money that would be spent on principle and interest to pay back the debt and instead increase the road and capital improvement funds (Pay as you go with the money you would have spent paying debt.)  

2.  Use unexpected tax surpluses, such as the recent 7.5 million dollars in June (which the city has now already blown) to fund road and capital improvement projects.

3.  Re-prioritize existing spending, if necessary, to increase the road and capital improvement fund.

The bottom line is, the city needs to live within it's means.  Our city is already straddled with significant debt, and massive new borrowing only makes it harder for our city to remain fiscally stable.  We can keep American Fork City a great place to live, but only if we require our public servants to be wise and frugal with our resources, including surplus resources, they already have available.  If enough people show up tonight and voice their dissent over proposed higher taxes and borrowing, perhaps we can stop this now, before it goes on the ballot in November. 

I urge you to join me tonight at the City Council meeting to send a strong message to our elected officials about fiscal restraint and responsibility.  

Sincerely, 

Carlton Bowen

801.770.3154

P.S.  Remember, the meeting is tonight, August 15, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. (be early), at 31 N. Church Street (just down the street from the AF City offices) in downtown American Fork City.

P.S.S.  Feel free to let other concerned citizens know about this meeting.

        Say NO to higher taxes and massive new borrowing.  Vote NO to the Bond issue!

Thanks to everyone who helped me make it through the primary!  Now on to the general election!!!

With your help, I received the 2nd highest number of votes, in unofficial results. (http://afcity.org/Portals/0/Unofficial%202013%20Primary%20Election%20Results.pdf).  There are two open City Council seats, so the top four candidates advance.

Let's continue to get the message out that the city is already 54 million dollars in debt and doesn't need to add 20 million more!

Vote NO on the bond issue in November.  No to higher property taxes.  No to massive new debt!