Water officials told the Salt Lake City Council Thursday night that they need a tax hike for Salt Lake and Sandy residents, but some council members weren't buying it.

Managers of the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water to Salt Lake City and Sandy, want to hike the property taxes that the district assesses by more than 50 percent — a total of about $3 million. They argued that the dollar amount didn't amount to very much, which justified the seemingly shocking double-digit percentage increase.

"The numbers kind of tell strange facts," said Lon Richardson, chairman of MWD's board. The increase would net "$14.96 per household per year. It's an easy way to do what you asked us to do: keep assessments and water rates the same."

But Councilman Dale Lambert said that percentage would never be acceptable to his constituents for other public utilities, adding that Salt Lake City officials politically could never afford such a steep increase.

"We have shortages that we would like to accomplish in the city, but we can't," Lambert said. "We're trying to grapple with how we can have this kind of a dramatic, sudden proposed change beyond which I can fathom we could do in any other public entity."

The water district sells water at wholesale prices to Salt Lake City and Sandy, which then sells water to residents at retail prices. The district submits its budget to the cities for review every year at this time to let the cities take a look at its plans for the coming years. The budget this year calls for building projects related to the Point of the Mountain Aqueduct and water treatment facilities and operations costs related to those facilities, said Mike Wilson, the assistant general manager. Wilson and Richardson responded to questions about the relative tax burden for Salt Lake versus Sandy — the larger capital city would bear more money if the taxes weren't pro-rated for water uses. Also, local governments in Utah have declined to raise water rates in favor of charging more property taxes, which Lambert questioned.

"Ultimately it seems to me that it's an argument to be made that it's fair to ask the people who use the water to pay for it," Lambert said. "It has been our policy to heavily subsidize water not by the users, but by the taxpayers. I think in my way of thinking, the users" should pay for higher water costs.

The water district's board will vote on the tax increase Monday night at 3430 E. Danish Road.

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