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OREM — Orem voters for the first time ever will have the opportunity to vote on leaving the Alpine School District to form a new school district after the Orem City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night to place the issue on the ballot for the Nov. 8 general election.
The vote comes after a lengthy history of Orem exploring a split — dating all the way back to 2006 — with the latest chapter coming after a feasibility study from Discovery Education Consultants found that a split would be financially and educationally sound.
Over 100 people on both sides of the debate signed up for public comment at the packed City Council meeting Tuesday night.
Proponents of the split, donning red stickers that said "Let Orem Vote," argued that the city of Orem pays more money to the Alpine School District than it gets back and that the district — the largest in the state — is too big to provide an adequate education to each individual student.
"Since the last time this was considered ... Orem taxpayers have paid millions in taxes and seen pennies in return," said Orem resident Evan Cox. "The purpose of the study was to determine if it was financially feasible. The answer is a resounding yes."
Others who spoke against putting the issue on the ballot argued that the feasibility study is misleading and doesn't tell the whole story.
"By putting this on the ballot, you tell us that you approve of spending even more money on a plan that didn't even measure resident interest first," Cissy Rasmussen said. "You spent $30,000 for a company that never conducted a feasibility study before, approved $50,000 for a PR firm, and at least $120,000 for an appointed attorney whose main job has been to work on this."
Prior to Tuesday night's meeting, the city hosted three separate public meetings where Discovery Education Consultants presented the results of its feasibility study and answered questions from the public.
Among the major components of their presentations were six scenarios created by the consultants:
- If Orem does not create a new school district and the $595 million bond proposed by Alpine School District passes, all taxpayers within Alpine School District would experience a 12.8% increase in property taxes. The Orem taxpayers would be responsible for approximately $116 million (19.44%) of the related debt but have no guarantee as to the amount of reinvestment that would be made into Orem schools (historically 13.3% of the bond allocations were directed to Orem from 2002 to 2021).
- If Orem creates a new school district and Alpine School District does not pass the $595 million bond, Orem residents would see a forecasted 3.5% increase in property taxes. Residents of the remaining district boundaries would experience a 5.3% decrease in their property taxes.
- If Orem creates a new district and Alpine School District passes the $595 million bond, Orem residents would realize a forecasted 3.5% increase in property taxes. Residents of the remaining district boundaries would experience a 10.6% increase in property taxes, as they would be obligated to pay for the $595 million bond. All of the proceeds would stay with the remaining district but the Orem residents would have no debt obligation as to the $595 million bond.
- If Orem splits from Alpine School District and Alpine School District bonds for $595 million and the new Orem school district bonds for $125 million — the approximate amount Orem would need to remediate seismic issues — Orem property taxes would increase approximately 17.3%, and the remaining district would increase 10.6%. In this scenario, the proceeds from the $125 million bond would remain 100% in Orem.
- If Orem splits from Alpine School District, Alpine School District bonds for $595 million and the new Orem school district bonds for $25 million to address seismic issues at schools, Orem property taxes would increase by 6.5% and the remaining Alpine School District areas would realize a property tax increase of 15.9%.
- If Orem splits from Alpine School District, the new Orem school district issues a $25 million bond and raises taxes by 12.8% — the amount the tax increase would have been if Orem hadn't split from Alpine School District and the $595 million bond passed — the new district could address seismic issues in addition to adding $4 million annually to its general fund.
After hours of hearing from both sides of the issue through public comments, the City Council weighed in with thoughts of its own, revealing equally differing opinions as those expressed by community members.
Councilwoman LaNae Millett spoke in favor of Orem forming its own school district.
"I know that Alpine is doing the best that it can with what it has," Millett said. "Unfortunately, our Orem kids are being negatively affected because of the growth pressures that Alpine is feeling from the west side."
She added, "I am convinced an Orem district will allow our children to have the educational opportunities and the funding that they deserve."
Conversely, Councilman Tom Macdonald referred to tax increases that could occur if Orem decides to create its own school district.
"As I stated previously, I would not vote for a split if it raises taxes — and this will," he said.
After other council members weighed in and discussed the potential split, the motion came to a vote and it was passed 4-3.
"The future of our schools is too important to be decided by seven members of the City Council," Millet said. "It should be decided by you, the residents of Orem."
Now the proposal will go to the ballot where, in November, the future of Orem schools will in fact be decided by the residents of Orem.
