The claim

Without the increase, police and fire lose funding

“The lie that without the tax increases the firemen and police will suddenly lose their budgets they already have in place.”

Seen: Referendum organizing post, Eagle Mountain Facebook group, October 2026. First seen October 7, 2026.

Our finding Accurate, but incomplete

True as far as it goes, and it leaves out something that changes the picture.

Right that neither budget vanishes, and the city's own impact statement says so: the Sheriff's contract would still be paid, from sales tax. Fire isn't on the city's levy at all this year. What it leaves out is where the money would come from instead, and that fire is due to move onto the city's books in 2028.

The numbers

Raised by the increasea year, toward the Sheriff's contract$2.13M

If it is repealedpays the Sheriff instead, per the citySales tax

Fire levyUnified Fire Service Area, its own line0.001650

What’s true

The written record backs it. The fiscal impact statement in the city's pamphlet says that if R-62-2026 is repealed, “the City would have to pay an additional $2,132,876 to the Utah County Sheriff's Office from sales tax revenues.” The contract stays. Fire and ambulance come from Unified Fire Authority, paid for through the Unified Fire Service Area's own levy (0.001650 on the 2025 bill), a separate line that R-62-2026 does not touch. In the meetings this site has transcribed, no official said existing police or fire budgets would be cut if the referendum succeeds.

What it leaves out

A repeal moves the cost rather than removing it. The same statement says paying the Sheriff out of sales tax causes “a deficit in other areas of the budget,” to be met by cutting city services, drawing on reserves, or both; the mayor's argument names parks, trails, roads and recreation. And the case the city makes is about adding deputies, not keeping the ones it has: the mayor's argument says the rate “pays for a sergeant and additional deputies.”

More detail

Fire is changing too, on a later timetable. The city has given notice to leave the Unified Fire Service Area and contract with Unified Fire Authority directly. On September 1 Mayor Jared Gray said the exit is planned for January 1, 2028, with a Truth-in-Taxation process in 2027 to set the rate that pays for it; Councilmember Brett Wright added that the service area's own levy would come down when the city's goes up. On August 18 Councilmember Zac Huish defended 0.000900 partly as covering about 76% of the Sheriff and fire contracts together once that switch happens. So a fight over how fire is funded is coming, but over next year's rate, not this one.

Whether Eagle Mountain needs more deputies is an argument, and the Tax page sets out both sides of it. This card checks the narrower point: whether existing police and fire budgets disappear on repeal. On the city's own paperwork, they don't.

Where this comes from

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

Eagle Mountain City, September 14, 2026The fiscal and legal impact statement (repeal means paying the Sheriff from sales tax and cutting services or using reserves) and the mayor's argument (“a sergeant and additional deputies”; the gap grows “at the expense of parks, trails, roads, and recreation”).Proposition Information Pamphlet

Utah State Tax Commission, Report 600, January 5, 2026The seven levies on an Eagle Mountain bill, including Unified Fire Service Area at 0.001650 and the city at 0.000534 for 2025.2025 Tax Rates by Tax Area, Report 600

Mayor Jared GrayThe city has given notice to withdraw from the Unified Fire Service Area; the exit is planned for “January 1st, 2028,” with a Truth-in-Taxation process in 2027 to set the rate that replaces the service area's levy.The meeting, September 1, 2026 Read the transcript

Councilmember Zac HuishBefore the vote on R-62-2026: 0.000900 would give “a 76% coverage ratio for both Sheriff and for fire” once the city contracts for fire directly.The meeting, August 18, 2026 Read the transcript

More checks on police & fire

See all 28 fact checks →

Checked October 7, 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