Why Carlton Should Be AF's Next Mayor

Higher Fees Again?

The American Fork City Council voted to significantly increase the impact fees in American Fork City on Tuesday, July 11, 2017.  I voted NO to this increase.  (Frost, Shorter and Shelton voted FOR this fee increase.)

These are the fees you pay when you go to build a house.  Having higher fees may also mean less house for your money, if you're buying a house in American Fork.

It's rare for the Council to get public input during these types of hearings, so I think it's noteworthy that Deann Huish of the Utah Valley Home Builders Association attended to testify.  Deann mentioned that if the Council adopts these fee increases (which later that night they did), American Fork would have the third highest impact fees in all of Utah County!

To give you an idea of how much the fees increased by, here are some of the changes.  The following fee increases are for the Non-TOD  area (i.e. everywhere but the Front Runner station area):

Single Family Residence:

     Water, was $1,495 will be $2,502  (67% increase)
     Sewer, was $588 will be $840  (42% increase)
     Storm, was $1,020 will be $1,536  (50% increase)
     Parks, was $3,212 will be $3,855  (20% increase)
     Roads, was $2,077 will be $3,548  (70% increase)

A few fees did go down slightly, but not nearly enough to offset the numerous and significant fee increases!  Deann estimates that with all the fees required, building a house in AF will now jump from about $8,000 to $12,000+  just for city impact fees...

Making our city more expensive and less inviting to live and do business in is the wrong direction for our city to go.

We should seek to have a low tax and fee environment, not one of the highest in Utah County!


Carlton Bowen
AF City Mayoral Candidate
Current AF City Councilman

AF Mayoral Candidate Announcement

Today I filed as candidate for American Fork City Mayor

I've been honored to serve as your city councilman these last few years.  I've sought diligently to uphold my oath of office in supporting and defending the Constitution of our great country and state.  I've endeavored to be transparent and to help make our local government more transparent and accountable.  I believe we have succeeded in doing that to some degree.  My votes on every issue have been thoughtful and in accordance with deeply held principles.  It has truly been a pleasure to have a Voice and a Vote on our City Council. 

I feel I can most benefit our citizens and our city by serving in the Mayoral role in the future, and to that end publicly announce my candidacy for American Fork City Mayor!

I have a vision of a debt free city; it's something we can make progress towards and eventually achieve.  I led the fight against the 20 million dollar road bond in 2013 and I want you to know that rejecting the bond was the right thing to do.  I later found out that even without the new bond, debt service was our city's single most expensive budget category per year.  It cost more to service our debt than it cost to run our entire police department for a year!

We have funded road improvements with a pay as you go approach since then, and we have completed some significant road projects, but we can and should be funding our "Capital Improvement Road Accrual" account at a much higher level than we currently do.  The road account needs at least 4 million dollars a year to adequately maintain our existing roads.  I think it's also important that we keep our taxes low for both our citizens and our businesses. 

So with this vision and these goals in mind, I throw my hat into the ring for American Fork City Mayor, and express gratitude to all those who have supported me in the past and who are supporting me now.  Together we can do this!

Carlton Bowen

American Fork City Mayoral Candidate