Re-elect · Wasatch County Council · Seat C

My priorities Meet Erik

Erik has raised his family in Wasatch County and understands what it means to fight for what you believe in.

Local control

The state is threatening to take away funding simply because we aren't playing ball. Whether it's roads, mines or developers, the state is increasingly making it impossible for county residents to decide what they want for their county. I will not rest until we see meaningful change at the state level.

What I'll push for

1. Lobby the legislature to repeal the preliminary municipality bill (SB 258) that allows developers to completely bypass county review.
2. Work with other rural counties facing the same overreach. One county is easy to ignore. Twenty-nine is not.
3. Tell residents the truth about what the county can and cannot do, even when the honest answer is the hard one.

Do we want it or need it?

That's the question we should be asking before every dollar is spent.

A property tax notice isn't an abstraction. It's the difference between staying in the house you raised your kids in and selling it to somebody from out of state who'll treat it as nothing more than an investment.

What I'll push for

1. Apply the want-or-need test to every budget line, in public, on the record.
2. Prioritize lowering property taxes through surplus revenues.
3. No tax increase without showing residents the alternative we rejected and why.

Developers paying their share

I'm not against building. I'm against paying for somebody else's profit.

Here's how it works now. A project comes in. It asks for a break, an incentive, a waiver, a rezone. It promises jobs and a tax base. The break gets granted, the project gets built. Before long, the infrastructure, the deputies and the extra school seats show up on your bill. If we're going to grow, growth has to pay for itself.

What I'll push for

1. No new tax breaks or incentives for private development. If it can't stand on its own, it doesn't need us.
2. Hold every commitment in writing and enforce it. A promise made at a hearing is worth nothing if nobody follows up in year three.
3. Full cost accounting on every rezone — roads, water, sewer, public safety, schools. Put the number in front of the public before the vote, not after.

Open space and heritage

You can raise a tax and lower it again. You can rewrite an ordinance. You cannot un-build a subdivision. Open ground is the one resource in this county that only moves one direction. Every acre we hand over is an acre no council after us can get back, no matter how badly they want it.

And it's not only the land. It's the barns, the ditches, the dirt roads — the reason this place feels like somewhere instead of anywhere. If we forget where we came from, we'll repeat every mistake others have already made. You don't lose your heritage overnight. It happens one project at a time.

What I'll push for

1. Treat open space as a permanent decision. Higher bar, longer look, public record of what we're trading away.
2. Use every preservation tool we have — conservation easements, transfer of development rights, agricultural protection.
3. Protect the working agriculture that's still here, not just the view of it.

1

Councils, cities, the school district and county staff at the same table before a fight starts, not after.

2

Disagree hard in the room, then walk out united. That's how a body earns its weight.

3

Bring residents in early. The strongest thing we ever put in front of the state was a room full of neighbors who showed up.

435.503.0455 talk@erikrowland.com