Salt Lake County voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve a $128 million parks and recreation bond. The measure replaces an expiring bond and would keep property taxes flat for the average homeowner, according to Eric Biggart, communication director for the Salt Lake County Mayor's Office.
The expiring 2016 bond paid for the Draper Rec Center and Bingham Regional Park. The new bond would take its place on tax bills once the old debt is retired.
"We do this about every ten years, so there's an expiring bond from 2016, that was the bond that built the Draper Rec center, Bingham Regional Park, and when that bond expires, this new bond will take its place in your tax bill," Biggart told Fox 13.
The county's bond page spells out the math. The new bond would carry a monthly property tax cost of $1.37 for a primary residence at the county average value of $658,000. But because it replaces the current levy on the retiring bond, the net property tax increase is $0 per year.
The county has identified 30 projects it plans to repair, improve or complete if voters approve the measure, Fox 13 reported. Those include a new recreation center at Union Park in Midvale, playground and picnic renovations at Hunter Park in West Valley City and trail expansion at Big Cottonwood Regional Park.
County records from a June 2026 Recreation Bond Advisory Board meeting show the bond's funding divided into three buckets: 40% for repair and maintenance, roughly $36 million; 30% to finish projects already started, about $27 million; and 30% for new development, another $27 million. Those figures were based on a $90 million framework the advisory board used during planning. The ballot question, posted on the county's bond page, authorizes up to $128 million.
The bonds would mature in no more than 11 years from issuance. Beyond debt payments, the county projects average annual operational and maintenance costs of about $4.7 million during the facilities' first decade. If approved, the county said it will determine during its next budget cycle whether those costs require budget cuts or a tax increase.
The costliest proposed project is the Union Park recreation center in Midvale. Fox 13 reported Oct. 11 that preliminary plans showed the center being built on two of three softball fields at the park, raising concerns from the Mt. Olympus Fastpitch Softball League. Jamie Walker, the league's president, said the worst-case scenario was losing the fields. The county has since called those plans preliminary and said it will work with Midvale City and the league on options.
That operational-cost question is the one to watch. The $0 net tax increase covers only the bond's debt payments, not the $4.7 million in yearly upkeep the new facilities would need.
