Five communities around Utah are trying to go through the incorporation process and become cities.
For the two of those communities in northern Utah — Benson in Cache County and Ogden Valley in Weber County — the recent legislative session brought anxiety and worries that the incorporation process could change.
Senate Bill 252 initially worried Nick Dahlkamp, who is one of the organizers behind Ogden Valley’s incorporation effort.
The bill, which was ultimately not passed, would have increased a prospective city’s revenue surplus from needing to be 5% to 10%. The 5% surplus is a requirement for any prospective city, and he said increasing that mark would’ve made it difficult for any area to incorporate.
“If you can't pass that bar, your incorporation initiative is prohibited from continuing, you're essentially done," Dahlkamp said.
While that bill did not pass, another bill altering city incorporation did. Senate Bill 201 — which was approved by the Utah House and Senate last month — would require incorporation petitioners to pay for their own feasibility study. For any area to become a city, it must have a feasibility study done first to see if the area would be financially viable as a city.
In the past, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office paid for that study, and if the area were to incorporate into a city, that city government would pay the Lieutenant Governor’s Office back.
Matt Fuller, the incorporation sponsor for Benson, said the change made by SB 201 places a heavy financial burden on sponsors. He said the cost of a feasibility study is thousands of dollars, and if the study finds a city is not financially viable, he worries sponsors would lose their personal money with nothing to show for it.
“We were just told yesterday that a feasibility study is going to cost in the realm of $20,000 to $25,000," Fuller said. "How in the world, and where in the world, would that come from?”
SB 201 has not yet been signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, and Fuller says he hopes the governor doesn’t approve the bill. The last day for Cox to sign or veto bills is March 21.
