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Show PAGE 4 THE ZEPHYRSEPTEMBER 89 v ... - V ' - I .S an intervieiv with the grand county commission On August 22, Jim Stiles Interviewed Commissioners Feme Mullen and Merv Lawton. Because of a previous commitment In Salt Lake City, David Knutson was unable to attend. The Interview has been edited for clarity and length. Property Taxes First let's talk about the property tax Increases. Can you Zephyr: explain lust exactly why they've gone up so much In Grand County this year. and Is this representative of a trend that will continue In the future? Feme: This will not be a trend; This Is a one-tiThis re- thing. evaluatlon has not happened since 1974. They had people down here last year for 6 to 8 months studying, and they compared houses whether they're made of brick, or whatever, locations, size, and tried to make them equal In taxes. Therefore, and you say taxes went up, which Is not really true because lots of taxes went down. But you dont hear about those. We tried to equalize; you might be paying more taxes for your house and land than someone across the me street In a comparable house. Zephyr: Is the rate based on what vou could sell vour house for? Feme: They looked In real estate offices, they looked at sales, they compared where the land was. They deducted some, because Moab Is a depressed' area. But people came In and complained their taxes were too high; and maybe they'd paid $20,000 more than what they were being taxed for. I dont think we're overtaxing. You know that If you add on to your house, your going to pay more taxes. You know that On the whole, people were very nice; There are one or two who didnt hear what we were saying. But all the comparisons were made In Grand County. Merv: T think Feme has explained It well. The one question you asked, that Feme didnt quite answer, Is that fair market value Is the key thing. And that It: what would a prudent buyer give to a prudent seller? Zephyr: Ok. but take a look at Tellurlde or Aspen. The economy was depressed, prices were low. Then they became ski resorts, prices skyrocketed. so did taxes, and the old timers had to sell their homes and leave because, they couldnt afford the taxes. Are there anv safeguards to protect that from happening here. If the tourist boom took off here? Feme: No. There are no safeguards. But the same thing happened during the uranium boom. People were flocking In here, prices went up, then came back down. You cant really anticipate what's going to happen thirty years down the road. The Cost of Courthouse Annex and Jail Zephyr: From the last Interview, vou both felt that building a new lall QnluiK 29 Quality Realty, Inc 59 S. Main Suite 4 suzan martin sales associate Commercial Retirement Residential Castle Valley necessity. At mllllpn, the fact that theJnSLlust loa District, does that lessen the lability M mone m.Hinn tohe Rjffigfiiai rriiH he borrower! from foe CIB for this prpletf that mineral this for prolect. established using eervlce district have been artr4 mnHarnMnn r"v WSS 8 f Woht in Rd think It probably could, but that should have happened long would not think that the CIB Is going to give all their money to one leaSFerne-?- l ago. I What I heard at that CIB meeting a few weeks ago Is that as long as there are worthy causes, they shall give. It was not going to be a" case of: this Is your share, and that's IL there s not an unlimited amount of money Zephyr: But on the other hand, available from the CIB. either. Merv: As long as mineral lease money keeps coming In, there Is a good slug of money going to CIB. Feme: I don't like to say It, but I feel those people that are pushing They the roads, they dont really He, but they don't tell all the truth. dont tell It like It could be, they tell It like It Is. Zephyr: Baaed on what we know about the law, could a special service district be set up for the courthouse annexlall and use the money for thla Instead of putting the tax burden on the county residents? Feme: Sure they could. You were at that meeting where Dutch Zimmerman was surprised about that, and he said If theyd known that, they might've set up a combination service dlstricL I dont believe they were told the truth COUrMerv: - either.' ' Zephyr: As vou Took at It now. Is It too late to change anything? Feme: It's been heck trying to change a few bylaws In our new road district. I was told that we couldnt get any new road board members from the city, because wed have to change the bylaws again to Include municipalities In the special ' service dlstricL Its their bylaws that are keeping out potential board members who live In the city. And I think we ought to change that Zephyr: How would vou oo about changing It? Feme: Just like we did with expanding the board. Have a hearing. I dont know If anybody backs me on that, but I feel very strongly about IL Merv: I haven't seen anything In the special service district documents that show the formation of the boards and so forth. Ive seen nothing that Indicates you can't use It for such purposes. I think we could have a special service district for anything. On the other question, the Idea of excluding municipalities and people who Hve In them from the board, that was set up based on a recommendation from the Association of Counties. I feel that we are losing some very good potential people for that board, because the Its a discrimination that could majority of the people live In the city. have an adverse effecL Another thing I have been trying to Impress on everybody Is that the City and county are not two entitles; we are one body. We cannot operate separately. We must work together. And on a deal Hke this, I believe city and county people should be available to sit on this board. I dont agree with that decision. Feme: There are people who live In the city who know just as much about roads Jimmie Walker lives In the city. Hes not on the board, but I think he runs IL Zephyr: Does that mean that the Commission Is considering the Idea of expanding the Special Service District to Include municipalities? Feme: lam. Merv: I feel It should be open for city and county. All we have to do Is go through the same procedure as we did In expanding the board I'm a little sorry that I asked for the expansion of the board flrsL If Id thought more clearly, I would have asked for this. Or both at the same time. Wavne Owens Wilderness Bill VWj think of Warn, Owin' Mil, now Bit he' come to Moab. and what did vou think of the meeting? Merv: I don't know what I thought of the meeting. I was proud of the people and the way they behaved. Wayne took a bit of a beating elsewhere, I oont think that Is good. The people debated the Issue, they allowed each other to speak. In a way, I felt maybe I was making It boring. That there "r and brimstone and shouting. Maybe some of that Is good . ne honest ozzie s cafe desert 9 I know where the best deals are rftiirthouee & oasis good food good prices 60 n. 1st w. V2 block south of coop 7 days a week 7 am - 11:30 am 5:30 pm natural food cuisine -- 10 pm |