CANYON — The City of Canyon hosted its inaugural State of the City address on Thursday, Sept. 19, drawing over 200 attendees to the Happy State Bank Stadium conference center. City officials unveiled plans for a new Housing Rehabilitation Program and announced a potential public safety bond election scheduled for May 2025, aimed at addressing the city’s rapid growth and increasing demands on public services.
City Manager Joe Price discussed the increasing strain on the city’s fire department due to significant growth and a decline in volunteer numbers.
“We are seeing our call volume demand increase significantly over five years, and unfortunately, volunteers are just not as many as we used to have,” Price said. “We’ve had to hire additional full-time staff. Most of our increases in tax rates have been to the fire department. We have hired over six-plus fire department staff in the last three to four years to help answer that call.”
Price highlighted the necessity of the proposed bond election, which aims to fund a new fire station and upgrades to existing facilities.