The claim

A city jail would be a revenue source

“Jared should have used 5.5 to build a new jail. Then we would have a revenue source and be able to ticket for city laws and keep all the money from fines instead of giving it to Utah County.”

Seen: Eagle Mountain City Tax Referendum Facebook group, August 2026.

Our finding Not accurate

The record contradicts it.

Right that fine money is going to the county. Wrong about the building that fixes it (that is a justice court, not a jail), and wrong about the scale, which is thousands of dollars, not millions.

The numbers

General fund fines, FY2026–27the whole budgeted line$6,180

Budgeted public safetywhat it would have to fund$9,798,139

City justice courtsand city code is not on the county offense table0

What’s true

The underlying complaint is real, and councilmembers agree with it. Eagle Mountain has no justice court, and its ordinances are not loaded in the system the county justice court files charges from, so charges for city-ordinance violations cannot even be brought. A councilmember said on April 14, 2026 that the city had been talking about a justice court “for over 18 months and we're nowhere closer to it.”

Where it goes wrong

Three things. There was no $5.5 million to spend; see the QTS entry. A jail is not the mechanism: what lets a city keep fines from its own ordinances is a justice court, and in Utah the sheriff is the statutory keeper of the county jail, with the nearest booking facility in Spanish Fork. And the money is not there: the entire budgeted general-fund Fines line for FY2026–27 is $6,180, against $9,798,139 of budgeted public safety. A city jail is a cost center with staffing, medical care and liability attached, not a revenue line.

More detail

The city attorney told the council on May 26, 2026 that the city is “legally entitled” to a justice court and that what stands in the way is process, not money for a building.

The broader “Fines & Forfeitures” category citywide, $157,700 in the FY2025–26 budget book, is mostly NSF fees, library fines, code enforcement fines and late utility charges, not traffic citations.

Where this comes from

Every finding here is drawn from an open-meeting recording or a published document. Check it yourself.

“the discussion came up about getting our city ordinances onto the computer system that allows Utah County Justice Court to actually file charges and for us to actually issue citations for some of these city ordinance violations. You don't have that right now.”

The Utah County Sheriff's Office chief deputy over the Eagle Mountain DivisionThe meeting, April 14, 2026 Read the transcript

“I mean, we are legally entitled to one.”

City Attorney Marcus, asked whether funding a deputy attorney gets the city a justice courtThe meeting, May 26, 2026 Read the transcript

Utah Code on county jails, August 21, 2026The county jail is kept by the sheriff, and jails are a county function in Utah; a municipality that wants to keep fines from its own ordinances needs a justice court, which is a court, not a jail. The duty sat at § 17-22-2 until the 2025 special session renumbered it.Utah Code § 17-72-401, County jails — sheriff as keeper

More checks on police & fire

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Checked August 21, 2026. Nothing goes on the fact-check list unless an open-meeting recording or a published document can settle it: the rules. Spot a mistake? civicrollcall@gmail.com