By Joseph M. DoughertyKAYSVILLE-Davis County commissioners are proposing
a 45 percent increase in the county's share of property taxes to pay for repairing flood-control channels, fund the operating costs of the expanded Davis County Jail and bolster the county's Division of Aging Services.
If commissioners approve it in December, the total tax increase on the average Davis County home valued at $171,000 will be $60. Currently, the county portion of the property tax on an average home is $133.93, or 11.5 percent of the total property tax paid by county residents, according to Steve Rawlings, the Davis County clerk/auditor.
The proposed increase would raise the county's portion to $193.93, or 15.9 percent of the total.
The rest of the property tax goes toward the Davis School District, local city taxes, the Davis County Library, the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and mosquito abatement, as well as other programs.
County officials believe the need for the increase is pressing. Flood-control channels are deteriorating. The expanded jail will have operating, maintenance and personnel costs when it opens in early 2007. And as time marches on, the county's senior population is expected to grow three times faster than it did during the late 1990s. Commissioners say a tax increase could fund more senior-oriented services, like employment programs, volunteer opportunities, an ombudsman and a caregiver program.
Davis County Public Works director Tom Smith and Davis County Commissioner Dannie McConkie are getting the word out about the tax increase because they don't want to relive 2002, when commissioners were thwarted in an attempt to raise property taxes to pay for the jail expansion and operations costs, McConkie said.
Commissioners in 2002 proposed a 138 percent increase in the county portion of the tax. Public outcry against the tax increase led commissioners to rescind that idea in favor of allowing residents to vote in 2003 on a bond for financing the jail expansion's construction, which the voters approved.
"Last time, we were accused of not telling the story," McConkie said of the 2002 proposed tax increase."
So in recent weeks, Smith and McConkie have visited city councils in Clinton, Clearfield, Fruit Heights and Kaysville. South Weber and Layton councils will hear from the duo in the next two weeks, followed by the rest of the county. Information also has been posted on the county's Web site.
The message is simple: Smith shows a slide presentation on the need to retrofit and repair the county's 19 flood-control channels, displaying some of the worst examples of damage.
"The feedback we're getting is that it ought to be done," Smith said.
Along parts of 2600 South in Woods Cross, for example, sinkholes have developed beneath the curbs. Such sinkholes could have been devastating if they had happened under the roadway, Smith told the Kaysville City Council on Tuesday night. Repairing the flood-control channels will cost $40 million over 14 years, he said.
Kaysville City Council member Chris Snell questioned why the flood channels had been allowed to fall into disrepair.
Smith said his department has a budget of $900,000 for flood control. About $200,000 of that is for materials, and that's not nearly enough to buy what he needs, he said.
Snell said he wanted to see a prioritized list of projects the tax increase would fund.
"We might as well get it done now," he said, adding that the projects will cost more in the future.
Council member Gil Miller's neighbors live along Baer Creek, one of the channels in need of repair. He called the situation "alarming" and said he would support the increase for flood control.
But both Snell and Miller said they felt uninformed about the increase for Aging Services and the jail operations.
Lewis Garrett, director of the Davis County Health Department, will be a part of the open houses planned for later this month and will talk about the need for services for elderly residents, said health department spokesman Bob Ballew.
Open houses are scheduled for:
• Wednesday, Oct. 25, at the Centerville Library from 5 to 8:45 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Layton Library from 5 to 9 p.m.
More information is available on the county's Web site: www.daviscountyutah.gov or by e-mailing 2007budget@daviscountyutah.gov.
a 45 percent increase in the county's share of property taxes to pay for repairing flood-control channels, fund the operating costs of the expanded Davis County Jail and bolster the county's Division of Aging Services.If commissioners approve it in December, the total tax increase on the average Davis County home valued at $171,000 will be $60. Currently, the county portion of the property tax on an average home is $133.93, or 11.5 percent of the total property tax paid by county residents, according to Steve Rawlings, the Davis County clerk/auditor.
The proposed increase would raise the county's portion to $193.93, or 15.9 percent of the total.
The rest of the property tax goes toward the Davis School District, local city taxes, the Davis County Library, the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and mosquito abatement, as well as other programs.
County officials believe the need for the increase is pressing. Flood-control channels are deteriorating. The expanded jail will have operating, maintenance and personnel costs when it opens in early 2007. And as time marches on, the county's senior population is expected to grow three times faster than it did during the late 1990s. Commissioners say a tax increase could fund more senior-oriented services, like employment programs, volunteer opportunities, an ombudsman and a caregiver program.
Davis County Public Works director Tom Smith and Davis County Commissioner Dannie McConkie are getting the word out about the tax increase because they don't want to relive 2002, when commissioners were thwarted in an attempt to raise property taxes to pay for the jail expansion and operations costs, McConkie said.
Commissioners in 2002 proposed a 138 percent increase in the county portion of the tax. Public outcry against the tax increase led commissioners to rescind that idea in favor of allowing residents to vote in 2003 on a bond for financing the jail expansion's construction, which the voters approved.
"Last time, we were accused of not telling the story," McConkie said of the 2002 proposed tax increase."
So in recent weeks, Smith and McConkie have visited city councils in Clinton, Clearfield, Fruit Heights and Kaysville. South Weber and Layton councils will hear from the duo in the next two weeks, followed by the rest of the county. Information also has been posted on the county's Web site.
The message is simple: Smith shows a slide presentation on the need to retrofit and repair the county's 19 flood-control channels, displaying some of the worst examples of damage.
"The feedback we're getting is that it ought to be done," Smith said.
Along parts of 2600 South in Woods Cross, for example, sinkholes have developed beneath the curbs. Such sinkholes could have been devastating if they had happened under the roadway, Smith told the Kaysville City Council on Tuesday night. Repairing the flood-control channels will cost $40 million over 14 years, he said.
Kaysville City Council member Chris Snell questioned why the flood channels had been allowed to fall into disrepair.
Smith said his department has a budget of $900,000 for flood control. About $200,000 of that is for materials, and that's not nearly enough to buy what he needs, he said.
Snell said he wanted to see a prioritized list of projects the tax increase would fund.
"We might as well get it done now," he said, adding that the projects will cost more in the future.
Council member Gil Miller's neighbors live along Baer Creek, one of the channels in need of repair. He called the situation "alarming" and said he would support the increase for flood control.
But both Snell and Miller said they felt uninformed about the increase for Aging Services and the jail operations.
Lewis Garrett, director of the Davis County Health Department, will be a part of the open houses planned for later this month and will talk about the need for services for elderly residents, said health department spokesman Bob Ballew.
Open houses are scheduled for:
• Wednesday, Oct. 25, at the Centerville Library from 5 to 8:45 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Layton Library from 5 to 9 p.m.
More information is available on the county's Web site: www.daviscountyutah.gov or by e-mailing 2007budget@daviscountyutah.gov.
Photo: Davis County Public Works: A Davis County employee inspects a damaged Woodscross flood-control pipe.
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