Wimmer needs to be the winner in Utah's 4th

There has been a favorable blog storm in favor of the candidacy of Mia Love, who is running for the Republican nomination in Utah's new 4th congressional district. Jim Matheson, the only Democrat representing the Beehive State in Washington, will run in the 4th.

Also in the race for the GOP is Carl Wimmer, who I posted about earlier this week.

Love is currently the mayor of Saratoga Springs, previously she was a member of the town's city council.

As she presses her qualifications for serving in Congress, she is stressing her fiscally conservative credentials.

How did she do in Saratoga Springs?

From the Salt Lake Tribune, via the Tatler blog:

Love was sworn in as a member of the City Council in 2004 in the town of just more than 3,000. Five years later, the population had exploded to 16,000-plus. New homes popped up around the city, and the budget and full-time staff, paid by the flood of building permit revenue, swelled.

But when the housing bubble burst, Saratoga Springs was hit especially hard. In 2008, facing a budget shortfall of more than $3 million, the council faced an option of a 400 percent tax increase or slashing the budget.

They did a little of both, cutting the budget by about $2 million, laying off eight of the 85 employees and — in the most controversial move — more than doubling the property tax rates, imposing a 116 percent increase.

"When the city was in trouble, we rolled up our sleeves and started to cut everything," Love said.

Here's that the Tatler says:

Mayor Love voted against an expensive city building project, but in 2007, 2008, and 2009, voted for city budgets that raised property taxes. Check page 72 on at the first two links, and page 115 on the third.

Saratoga Springs recent budgets have nudged up. Back to the Tribune:

Since the 2008 crash, the Saratoga Springs budgets have crept upward again. In the 2009 budget year, the general fund expenses totaled $5.6 million. In the current budget year, they total nearly $9.2 million, a 64 percent increase.

At the same time, property tax rates have crept up to offset declining property value in the city.

Under Utah's system, the rates can adjust up or down to bring in the same amount of revenue as the prior year without having to go through a truth in taxation hearing.

Saratoga Springs tax rates are now 0.31 percent, making them higher than the neighboring cities of Eagle Mountain, American Fork and Lehi.

Love, who left the City Council and was elected mayor of the city in 2009, said those cities have much higher utility rates and the growing budget reflects the demands of a growing city.

Utah's 4th is a low hanging fruit for the GOP--Matheson is vulnerable. Conservatives here, here, and here like what they see in her opponent for the Republican nomination, Wimmer.

Related post:

Tea Party keeping the pressure on GOP over Fast and Furious

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