Commissioners decline to retroactively add animal welfare tax line to CRAs, opt to exclude it going forward

At a June 30 Davis County work session, County Controller Scott Park reviewed the county's Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) participation and asked commissioners whether the newly created "animal welfare" property‑tax line should be included in existing CRA increment agreements.

Park said the county gave up roughly $2.7 million in tax increment to various entities (mostly cities) last year under existing CRAs. Because those agreements were signed before the county created a separate animal welfare tax line, Park said the agreements do not explicitly include that line and cities are now asking whether they should receive the animal welfare increment. Park said including the animal welfare line in CRAs would reduce the county's capture of new‑growth revenue by about $200,000 (as presented by staff).

Commissioners signaled they did not want to add the animal welfare line retroactively. One commissioner said, "Oh, I'm only 1 vote and I say we are not," and Chair John Krause responded, "I'll agree with that 100%." Park proposed leaving past agreements in place rather than attempting to recover past increments and recommended setting the animal welfare line to zero for future CRAs so it will not participate in new agreements unless negotiated. Commissioners agreed with that approach during the work session; staff said they will proceed with rate audits and bring follow‑up materials as needed.

The discussion was framed as direction to staff rather than a recorded motion or formal vote. Park emphasized that some CRAs include different participation rates (50%–100%) and that caps and term lengths vary by agreement.