Show g Serving Utah’s Great Pahvant Valley CHfiNUKfiH DEC Delta Utah 11 $2000 in v-- 7 ® $ out ol month $1300 (In Advance) Copy 50 1989 Estimated Budget transfers from General Fund Revenues The difference will be further reconciled he said by appropriating some 1988 Fund Balance as revenue and the transfer from General Fund as expenditures Millard County Auditor John Hansen said state law requires budget revenues and expenses to balance This chart shows a difference of $1449317 Hansen said the excess of expenditures over revenues will be covered by Senior Citizens (65 and older) $18 00 in level” There is no provision for salary creases for county employees in 1989 Hansen said the county will pay 25 to 30 percent more in 1989 for insurance benefits for county employees than it paid for 1988 premiums “We’re trying to shop markets” he said The present three commissioners will approve the 1989 budget even though two of them Abe Johnson and Warren Jensen leave the commission m January The deadline to pay taxes was November 29 Power Agency The Intermountain by far the county’s largest taxpayer paid $2293501871 A large part of that amount goes to the state school statewide fund for redistribution bill PA’s tax for 1988 was $2484131043 The difference comes mostly from a $163128506 impact alleviation tax credit allowed IPA which was deducted before payment was made County Administrator Robyn Pearson picked up the check T uesday Nov 30 at IPA headquarters in Murray and deposited it the same day of their But IPA paid $10091434 taxes under protest “Those are funds we cannot use at the present time” Hansen said “Probably Millard County will receive in funds available to be used at this time around $25 million s out of the $12 that is coming from IPP” The protested amount is about 44 percent of the amount assessed IPA “They have protested approximately 40 percent of their taxes to every district” Commissioner Mike Styler said “They have protested 100 percent of the cost of assessing and collecting which in essence means they have protested 44 percent over all” Styler said IPA has protested 52 percent of the money slated to go to the county Styler said the 40 percent protest disputes the value of the IPP plant near Delta The 100 percent protest of assessing and collecting is based on the legality of that levy “They’ve gone to district court and lost there” Styler said “so they’re appealing it to the supreme court as to the legality of it” The protested money remains tied up until the supreme court rules But the supreme court is just looking at the question of assessing and collecting On the larger question of valuation Styler said the State Tax Commission will conduct a hearing and make a ruling That hearing has not been scheduled yet “I hope it can be held in the next six months" Styler said “This could very easily put us in a real bind if they do what they say they are going to do That is if they don’t get the decision they want out of the Tax Commission then they say they’ll take it into court This could really hurt the county badly” Commissioner Jensen said the case could be tied up in the courts for years IPA spokesman James Hewlett said “It’s a typical thing to protest by large taxpayers not necessarily the amount and but sometimes the methodology then they go back through and find a fair approach and then they release those monies” In a letter addressed to Millard County Treasurer Mary D Day accomIPA wrote: panying their payment and ‘Pursuant to Sections we Utah Code Annotated are notifying you and through you each of the taxing districts for which you are acting as agent in collecting the Fee that $10091434 of the enclosed payment is paid under protest This payment under protest is necessary to preserve IPA’s rights to contest among other matters the legality of certain assessments and the interpretation of certain statutes giving rise to IPA's obligation to pay the Fee ” by Ken Rand The US Department of Health and Human Services plans to formally nationwide a release study this week of nursing homes that shows the West Millard Care Center in Delta among the 89 Utah nursing homes found to have deficiencies In an advance release last week about national averages it was revealed one of three Utah nursing homes fails to see patients get adequate personal hygiene one of six violates standards of sanitary handling of food and two of five administer drugs inproperly Utah nursing homes are generally better than those in many other states however according to the report Utah nursing homes presently care for about 6000 patients - 70 percent of whom The letter reads: “Millard County understands the importance of enhancing the electronic combat test capability for the United States Air orce 3k e have looked over the proposed flight We realize that flights alternative through these valleys will cause some impact for Millard C ounty We would be willing to take the impact if some of the benefits were to go to Millard County We feel that some of the impact could be offset with some of the facilities being sited at or near Delta Utah This would include some personnel etc living in our area “The impact on roads in the area and to and from the area needs to be discussed W e feel that the Air Force should ensure that roads are left in as good or better condition than originally found Also some improvement would be required if all weather all season use is anticipated USPS County Vol 79 No 23 Dec 8 1988 qualify for Medicaid The 75 volume consumer guide covers 15000 nursing homes nationwide that are eligible for Medicaid and Medicare funding The report uses 32 indicators to rate performance of a facility The profiles in the study were based on unannounced inspections of the homes Utah surveys were conducted by investigators ith the bureau of facility review in the state health department’s division of health care financing The guide is useless one critic said “My own opinion is that the government has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that is basically worthless” Dennis N McFall ecutive vice president of the Utah Health Care Association said “1 don’t know how anyone is going to use this to any great advantage It doesn’t really tell you anything and that'- the sad part of it” The Association is a local long term care gtoup representing facilities throughout Utah McFall said the studv focuses on onindicators a small ly 32 performance portion of the 500 requirements a facility must meet “A deficiency can represent an ongoing problem or a failure of a single sta’f person” he said “The deficiency might be corrected an hour after the inspection oi while the inspectors are there but still remains on the report" The American Health Care Association said the report was “not reliable” Dr Paul Willging executive vice president of the group said “In fact the guide could be harmful to consumers who use it as a shortcut a to selecting nursing home” HHS officials themselves warn the profile could be easily misinterpreted in that the information does not show or severe standard how prolonged violations were It is meant only to aid consumers in asking meaningful questions when seeking nursing home care official said The most deficiencies reported in a Utah nursing home were 17 at Quality Eva Dawn Care Murray in Murray Care Center in Salt Lake City violated 12 of the indicators and three other nursing homes - in St George Provo violated 10 each and Price The West Millard Care Center 275 West First South Delta failed to meet four of the 32 perlormance indicators They were: implementing a written health care plan tor each resident pro- - viding daily persona! hygiene using drugs or physical restraints to moditv behavior only under doctors' orders or and administering drugs in emergency according to doctors’ written orders homes are required by (Nursing federal law 'o correct deficiencies mediately or “within a reasonable " period ol time Dependine on the tvpe of deficiency cited inspections are scheduled within 23 to 90 days administrator ol Roy Barraclough the Center said the deficiencies noted were minor documentation problems “The important thing to remember” he said “is the continuity of care that is given over a full year's time rather than one or two times when the nurse is so busy that she may not get it written in the chart within the time frame they would norinallv expect ” Barraclough added “The fad that we have for 27 years continued as parproticipants in the gram without ever having our eligibility challenged or suspended would say a lot tor the staff in terms of overall compliance with the applicable There is not a care center or hospital in all of Utah that has the kind of quality personnel and programs that we have right here in Millard County W e need to be proud of what we have here” Public notices here are public notices on page II of this issue Public notues are part ol vour constitutional right to know what your government is doing Forensic expert joins murder investigation County Auditor John Hansen holds the complete county budget a 150 page computer print-oThe protested money is in an escrow account with the State Treasurer Whoever wins the protest will get the money plus interest The budgeting process has been complicated by the protest Hansen said “It will affect some entities more than others” he said because different entities have different taxing authority over IPA Many department heads pected the protest so they built into their budget request amounts to compensate for it Hansen said “When we put the budget together last year” Commissioner Jensen said “we anticipated there would be some so we adjusted the budget protest enough to take care of about a 30 percent protest” The protest won’t affect local schools that much Jensen said because the local schools keep their portion and the rest goes to the state “But it will affect schools across the state” he said “because that money is equalized throughout all the school districts in the state of Utah When you’re talking several million dollars that have been protested that certainly is going to affect something” The protest of the assessing and collecting portion of the tax bill concerns Jensen “What that does is take $450000 of tax meoney away that we planned on spending on the courthouse personnel” he said “So that puts us in quite a bind ” The protest also does not allow the county to deposit into the tax stability trust fund Jensen said Jensen said if IPA had not protested their taxes “we could have lowered It's a really touchy taxes considerably See Budget page 2 County seeks benefits to match impact of test range by Ken Rand Commissioners say the county should get benefits to balance the impact that will be produced by creation electronic test range the of a Air Force wants m west Millard The Air Force is proposing expansion of the Utah Test and Training Range in the west desert south into west Millard County to create an Electronic-TesCombat Capability At their Tuesday Nov 22 meeting in Fillmore the commission discussed writing a letter to Air Force officials expressing their concerns that Millard County may end up absorbing a large impact from the project while getting small benefits County Administrator Robyn Pearson said the letter tries to express the county’s concerns m a positive but firm way “My experience has been it you make no comment it’s assumed that everything is okay” he said 00 out o( Study says Delta home has ‘deficiencies’ County 89 budget $114 million by Ken Rand The Millard County budget for 1989 is $11442302 The overall budget is up from 1988’s budget by $2087939 That’s an crease of 22 percent A large part of the increase comes from a special fund to build a road to Crystal Peak Minerals new salt extraction plant being built at the south end of Sevier Dry Lake The special road fund is $1825000 A loan from the of Community Impact Board $1300000 accounts for the largest part of that figure while Crystal Peak is The paying $400000 into the fund county share is $125000 The plant is expected to eventually provide about 200 jobs Another part of the increase comes from a $250000 increase in the tax stability trust fund “That basically is contingent upon whether or not we save enough money to put in there” County Auditor John Hansen said Warren Jensen Commissioner plained the trust fund: “It’s when you utilities like IPA have that only pay for a few years then they drop off You can take some of that money and put it into a trust stability account You can’t spend that money without a vote of the people but you can live off the interest” Hansen said there will be no increase “That’s in taxes to meet the budget one thing the present commissioners have committed to do” he said “is to keep the taxes at or below the present county $20 “We are interested in and tax base for our County When use ol some of these areas impact our attempts to complish this then we need some financial gain perhaps as suggested in the aforementioned areas to offset the impacts We would be happy to meet with you at anv time to further discuss these issues The letter was sent to the Director of Programs and Environmental Division AF RCL BMS Norton Air DEP CA Force Base San Bernardino 2 It was dated Nov Commissioner Warren Jensen said there is a definite need for the testing range if the Air Force is to be capable have no obof winning a war “so ” jection to them coming m But Jensen agreed Millard County should get some benefits from the project See Air Force page 2 by Ken Rand Davis County Chief Deputy Attorney Carvel Harward has been by Millard County Attorney Warren Peterson to help in the prosecution of two men accused of muider in Millard County Michael Anthony Archuleta and Lance Conway W ood are being held in Millard County jail in Fillmore charged with first degree murder in connection with the beating death of SUSC student Gordon Ray Church of Cedar City Church’s body was found off 23 Nov near Cove Fort Wednesday One of the suspects told Sheriff’s deputies where to find the body and where to find Church's car The car was abandoned in West Valley City Millard County Sheriff Ed Phillips said the car has since been moved to Millard County On Friday Nov 25 the two men were arrested and charged in connection with the crime Later that day East Millard Justice of the Peace Ron Hare imposed a gag order on the case from imformation Since then vestigators and prosecutors has been sketchy Peterson said Harward “has an pertise in the use of forensic evidence to determine the roles of multiple in a crime and also deriving intent from forensics evidence ” is in Attornev’s charge of the Davis County Criminal Division Pe'crscin said "The county still has he lead in the prosecution" and Harward will assist “He is very amenable to that ” I’eKn son said immy Stewart director of the Iron County Utah State Correctional said Wood atJ Ar at Ctdar City chuleta were transferred to the main prison at Draper where they were released in accordance with depart men! procedures a month before the crime Slate Corrections spokesman Juan said Benav id ood w as paroled Oct 25 alter serving one year of a year term for 'heft and one vear for attempted theft The terms were concurrent after serAuhuleia was paroled Oct 18 months of a year ving nearly sentence tor arranging to distribute a controlled substance for sale Benavidez said Wwar said Wood was from Bountiful and Archuleta was originallv from Salem in I tah County the two After they were released back to Cedar City to look men wen Thev had been granted perlor work mission to do so by their parole supervisor according to Adult Probation arid Parole regional director John Cart! Siewa't said iwo women regularly visited Wood and Archuleta at the Ccdai prison which opened in The women were students ai lehruar SI I'aula Nut Jones 22 was arrested N'ov Wednesdav 30 n Cedar Citv and accused of lying to lawmen the case Cedar City Police and Millard County deputies saM Jones a senior at SUSC was Wood's She was held in the Iron girlfriend Cc’un'y jail accused o! obstruction of justice Iron County Shentf Ira Schoppman said Jones was held on S5 (KK) bail He said Jones will likely be prosecuted in Cedar Cm rather than in Millard ounty W ood aned Archuleta had been stavwrh ing in a Cedar City apanment Jones and another woman Vn 21 when they are alleged to have kidnapcome ped Church from a edai nience store according 'o parole officer Ron W oodhouse “The sheriffs otfuc and the prosecutor's office have been working verv closelv" on the case Peterson said “We have met many times including at her lengthy meetings vesterdav (Dec and Fridav and Monday Thursdav No date foT a prelimmarv heanrg lor Archuleta and Wood has been set don't know when we will know Phillips said “Both of those guvs have attorneys appointed to them now li s at their request that he lOdav pe lod be waived so how soon it will be set don't know My best guess is in Januarv Both men are being held wuhou' bond |