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Show if IvICBWSjpS .nDOEP .J. Park City, Utah 250 Vol. VI, No. 32 Thursday, April 23, 1981 2 Sections, 20 Pages Resort surrenders to sun god The party's over. Well, just about. On Sunday, the chairlifts at the Park City Resort will grind to a halt for the season. And what a season. The Resort started out with high hopes when they opened the season Nov. 21. True, it was only with the Three Kings Chairlift and on man-made snow. But they were the first resort to open in the state of Utah. By Christmas, the Resort still had less than half their runs open. A group of dedicated skiers even tried scaring the warm-weather demons away by throwing a stabutik party. Despite chugging orange juice and bourbon at 7:30 a.m. while facing the mountain, the group was unable to encourage Ullr the snow god to send snow to the barren slopes. It wasn't until the last few days of January that things started looking up. People started looking up, too at the sky as more than two feet of the white gold fell, injecting the town with optimism once more as visitors started to roll in. The skiing was good for the rest of the season. It wasn't great it wasn't the deep powder days we've come to expect in February and March but it was good. That is until the spring weather started eating away at the snowpack. With the loss of a solid Christmas and New Years business, the Resort was looking forward to Easter. But all they got in their Easter basket were soggy eggs, as rain fell over the lower portion of the mountain most of last Sunday. A total of 270 people braved the drizzle to participate in the Resort's annual Easter Egg Hunt. But the upper reaches of the mountain moun-tain did get about three more inches of snow. And that, hopefully, will keep the slopes in good enough shape to last through this weekend. "Actually, it's pretty damn good skiing," said Resort Mountain Manager Phil Jones. "It's amazing, considering the weather we've had. Jupiter Bowl has good, corny snow. We are getting some (bare) spots on other areas. And things may change, but we are planning on staying open through Sunday." Jones said the Resort now is operating opera-ting from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the Jupiter, Thaynes and Prospector chair-lifts chair-lifts operating. Skiers must ride the gondola both up and down the mountain. moun-tain. The ticket prices reflect the limited skiing, and have been reduced to $10 for adults and $7 for children 12 and under. "Things really haven't been that bad this year," Jones said. "We didn't have a lot of luck or cooperation from Mother Nature. But we and the rest of the town were honest with people. We tried our damndest to let visitors know what was happening before they came. As a result, I think the people were generally happy." Jones acknowledged that Park City was not the only resort in the country to suffer from lack of snow... and visitors. "People heard the ski reports, and I think they just didn't put their all into a ski vacation this year. But those who did come to town I think had a good time." The Resort won't make their announced an-nounced closing date of May 3, so Jones was hesitant to predict next year's opening day. But if there's enough snow, either from heaven or hoses, they will open the week before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiv-ing. Day skiers can expect to pay $18 next season to ski Park City Resort. No word has been given yet on the price of season passes. But Jones assured that even if there is an increase over this year's $300 price tag, it still will be a bargain compared to other resorts around the country. Up until now, skiers were wishing the cloudless skies away. But now it's time for summer, sunshine, softball and sailing. School unveils plan to whip inflation Remember the good old days, when you could get a seven-ounce Coke for seven cents, and fill your gas tank for five bucks? And remember when getting get-ting a "B" in 10th grade English was a sign of success? Ah, those were the days. Coca-Cola and hi-test aren't the only products victimized by inflation in the last two decades. Educators throughout the country have been complaining loudly that grade inflation has been taking its toll in the nation's high schools and colleges. Park City High School is no exception. excep-tion. A survey conducted at the end of the last semester revealed that the average grade given at the school was a B. No more. In a move which evokes memories of President Gerald Ford, Principal Jack Dozier has announced a campaign to Whip Inflation Now. Beginning in the fall, local high school students will be in for a rude surprise. According to Dozier, the average student will start getting average av-erage grades. "All at once, the kid who has been taking home Bs is going to start taking home Cs," Dozier told The Newspaper. The decision to return to a more stringent grading policy was made after consulting with the Park City Board of Education. "In essence, they have directed us to return to the historical approach to grading," Dozier said. He argued that the current national trend toward inflated grades began in the early 1960s, at about the same time that high school attendance began to drop off and college entrance exam scores started to slip. He believes that, in many cases, good grades have become more important than a good education. "I think too many parents and students are interested in the facade," he said. Incorporated in the school's grade-deflation grade-deflation plan is a new attendance policy. Teachers will be instructed to give each student a daily grade, in addition to grades given for exams and term papers. "Any student not in attendance that day will not get that mark, whatever the reason," Dozier said. Beginning this fall, there will be no such thing as an unexcused absence. "Prior to this, we've been allowing a student to be unexcused twice (in each nine-week grading period) before taking tak-ing action." Judging from their performance in last year's Scholastic Aptitude Tests, students at Park City High School Grades to 3 No, this isn't Treasure Hollow, although by some accounts there has been more water than snow at the Park City Ski Area lately. This is Deer Creek Reservoir, where some hardy in- Making cents of dividuals already have traded in their snow skis for the other variety. Photo by David Hampshire bond proposals By Beitina Moench and David Hampshire So what is all this going to cost? With all the discussions about bond elections and voted leeways, this question ques-tion has been asked in many ways by many people during the past few weeks. In an effort to provide the local voters with some information before the April 30 public hearing, we have compiled the following story. What we are attempting here is this: first, to let you know where your taxes are headed in 1981, without any additional addi-tional issues approved by the voters; second, to show you what your tax bill could be if the proposed bond election and voted leeway election are passed. Readers should be aware at the start that all the figures used in this story are estimates. No one really knows what the 1981 mill levy is going to be, regardless of the outcome of the proposed pro-posed city bond election. In gathering information and estimates esti-mates for this story, we talked to a number of local officials, including Park City Mayor Jack Green, Council-woman Council-woman Tina Levis, School Superintendent Superinten-dent Richard Goodworth, County Clerk Reed Pace, County Assessor Leo Fra-zier, Fra-zier, Park City Fire Commissioner Bob Burns, Snyderville Basin Sewer District Dis-trict Director Bruce Decker and Robert Cooper of the Utah State Tax Commission. Commis-sion. Pa rk City School District Regardless of any action taken this summer, the tax levied by the Park City School District will rise this year by an estimated three mills. That much 1980 1981 1982 1982 Estimated Including bond and leeway elections $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ s 1980 1981 1982 1982& Park City School District 22.11 31.93 34.93 40.33 Summit County 6.20 7.80 7.80 7.80 Park City 11.17 17.17 17.17 32.17 Park City Fire Dept. 1.89 1.89 4.00 5.50 TOTALS 41.37 58.79 63.90 85.80 Printed above is a chart which should give you some indication of where your taxes may be headed in the next two years. The 1980 mill levy is based on actual figures. The 1981 estimates are based on the best information we could gather. The 1982 estimates are admittedly sketchy; they are used largely as a point of comparison com-parison for the final set of estimates. The bottom line shows where your 1982 tax bill may stand if the bond and voted leeway elections are approved. Those figures include a 5.4-mill voted leeway election elec-tion for the school district, a 15-mill bond election ($7.5 million) for the city, and a 1.5 mill bond election for the fire district. The totals in the bottom line apply only to those people who own property within the city limits. To give you an idea of what your tax will be, here's an example. If you have a house with a market value of $100,000, you will be paying $20 in taxes for each mill levied. 55.000 people? Parkites ponder 21st century problems Before the turn of the century, it is possible an industrial park may be built at Silver Creek Junction that would employ 8,000 workers. To put that in context, please remember that Park City's entire population currently is about 4,000 people. And the Silver Creek plan is only one project planned for the Snyderville Basin in coming years. Projections estimate the basin might hold up to 55,000 by theye;n- 2010. Those awes .ne figures were presented pre-sented by city planners at a public meeting Tuesday night. The meeting was the first of several input sessions which will help form a comprehensive plan for Park City. City Planner Hill Ligety and private consultant Nola;i Rosall presided over the meeting in the Memorial Building, attended by. a bout 50 interested citizens. Rosall mentioned several possii.t- solutions to the problem of growth, ranging from the rudimentary (zoning revision) to the dramatic (formation of a new county). The consultant, employed by Gage Davis and Associates said the compre-h("' compre-h("' ive plan should cope with three C( ral areas: Hie pressures of growth; the cost "! ' ure services; and the regulation o growth stipulated by hillside ordinances and zoning regulations. regula-tions. The problems are not abstract, but very real, warned Rosall. "If you don't deal with reality, reality will deal with you," he said. lie asked those attending to form subcommittees sub-committees which would divide up problem areas of growth, and make reports back to city planners. Rosall drew up a list of 1! possible com m it-lees, it-lees, with audience help, and asked for volunteers to sign up at the end of the session Me and Lively also attempted to arouse audience interest with a questionnaire and a slide show on the titv's recent past. Park City residents wondered how they .could possibly affect the development develop-ment of Snyderville. Basin residents, for their part, seemed reluctant to be part of the city's comprehensive plan. Since one sub-committee concerned annexation of nearby land, a Snyderville Snyder-ville man asked if an anti-annexation panel also could be set up. Parkite Mary Lehmer bitterly recalled re-called past Master Plans, and contended con-tended they have been ignored after they were adopted. "Once again we're being asked to give our feelings and our help to develop policy," she complained. com-plained. Rosall said Park City has 2,300 dwelling units, and that number may multiply ten-fold. Deer Valley, he said, will add 2,000 units. Pinebrook will bring 2,210 more, and the Silver Springs development means another 2,100. The Landmark shopping area is planned for Kimball Junction, he said, and could include two or three large department stores. The consultant said it is not an issue of whether the city can stop such development, but how the city can influence the phasing or quality. How should Park City act toward large, nearby developments? "We could kiss them off and not get involved" in-volved" Rosall said. "We might look towards the creation of a separate county. You could say there is a community of interests in this area and Snyderville." Or, he suggested, Park City could take a position of "aggressive annexation" annexa-tion" toward the projects. State law 21st century to 3 already is determined. Under the provisions of the legislation legisla-tion which governs the statewide Uniform Uni-form School Fund, each school district is required to pay 23.25 mills toward public education, except during the three years immediately following a reappraisal. When a reappraisal occurs, oc-curs, the Uniform School levy is allowed al-lowed to drop, but must be brought back up to the 23.25 level within that three-year period. In 1980, the property in the Park City School District was reappraised, and the Uniform School mill levy dropped to 13.42. However, the schedule established estab-lished by the state calls for that levy to be raised in 1981 by exactly three miils to 16.42. A decision by the board to go ahead with the sale of $5.8 million in building bonds, primarily for the construction of a new middle school, also would have an impact on the school's mill levy. Last year, your school district taxes included 4.86 mills for the repayment of outstanding bonds. If the sale of the additional $5.8 million goes ahead as planned this summer, that will add an estimated 6.82 mills to that total. That estimate, provided by School Superintendent Superin-tendent Richard Goodworth, is based on the assumption that the bonds are sold at a 9.5 percent interest rate, and that the assessed value of the district is about $85 million. Approval for the sale of the building bonds was given by the local voters two years ago. Given the board's intention to begin construction on the new school this summer, sale of the bonds seems virtually assured. When the increase in the levy for the Uniform School Fund (3 mills) is added to the expected increase for the bond payments (6.82 mills), it brings the total increase to 9.82 mills. If this total is added to the amount levied by the school district in 1980 (22.11 mills), it brings the 1981 mill levy to about 31.93 mills. The board has also discussed asking the voters to approve an additional amount, called a voted leeway, to provide extra funds for the district's maintenance and operation (M & O) budget. Although no decision has been reached, a proposal was made at the last board meeting to increase the voted leeway from its current level of about .6 mills to about 6.0 mills, an increase of 5.4 mills. By state law, the maximum voted leeway which can be levied by a local school district is 10.0 mills. However, even if this leeway were approved by the voters this summer, it would not be reflected on the tax bills until 1982. Summit County In 1980, Summit County's share of your property taxes came to 6.2 mills. That, too, is expected to increase in 1981. According to preliminary figures provided to the County Commissioners last December, the 1981 county levy will be in the neighborhood of 7.8 mills, an increase of 1.6 mills. Sewer District Currently, the Snyderville Basin Sewer Improvement District does not generate its revenues through a mill levy. Instead, it charges a monthly user fee to fund its maintenance and operation opera-tion (M & O) budget, and a one-time sewer connection fee to retire its bonded indebtedness. According to district director Bruce Decker, the current monthly fee of $3.50 for a single family residence pays for the M&O of the plant and the sewer lines. But the district board recently approved an increase to $5 a month, which will go into effect June. 1 . Decker said the current connection fee of $1 .000 per single family residence is used to retire the $1.2 million bond approved to construct the 1.9 million-gallon million-gallon capacity sewer plant. That bond is expected to be retired by 2001. Depending on the rate of construction, construc-tion, the connection fees also are used to build up an escrow fund that will, theoretically, pay for future expansion of the plant. Decker estimates the plant will not reach capacity for two more years, adding that by 1983, an addition should be under construction. Decker said he did not anticipate the connection fees would rise in the near future. By next spring, the district will have to decide how large an addition will have to be made to the plant, and if there are sufficient funds in the escrow account to pay for it. If not, the district would raise the connection fees. If that is not determined deter-mined to be enough, a bond election would have to be held. Fire District Last year, four cents out of every local taxpayer dollar went to the Park City Fire District. That translates into 1.89 mills. Since the fire district's budget is based on a calendar year, no tax increases are expected until January Jan-uary of next year. According to district chairman Bob Burns, the 1982 budget will have to increase to keep pace with the building boom in the area. In order to adequately adequate-ly protect the 96 square miles within the district's boundaries, Burns predicted the mill levy will rise to the ceiling allowed by the state four mills. That's an increase of 2.11 mills in 1982. In addition, Burns said the district will ask voters to approve a bond of at least $750,000 to pay for new fire stations in Summit Park and the Silver Springs area. That bond also would finance the construction of a second story on the Park City fire station to make room for a dispatcher's office. The Coalville dispatch is too far removed re-moved from Park City, Burns said, and efficiency will be gained if all emergency emergen-cy services are routed through the Park Avenue fire station. But Burns added that bond attorneys have indicated that a $1 million bond would be more saleable than one of $750,000. No decision has been made on how much the district will ask for, or when a bond election might be held. Even if an election is held and a bond approved this year, the mill levy would not rise until 1982. Burns estimated that the mill levy could rise from one to two mills to retire the bond. Park City Since the City Council's last public hearing March 26, the proposed bond estimates to fund four projects have increased from $5 million to $7 million. That figure could reach $7.5 million if the city takes a top-shelf approach. Estimated costs for the construction of a field house in cooperation with the school district remain at $1.5 million; the estimated bill for renovation of the Miners Hospital still is $500,000. But figures for constructing a multi-purpose arena in the City Park area have jumped from $3 million to $4 million, while improvements to the park itself have increased from half a million to up to$l. 5 million. Why the increase? According to City Councilwoman Tina Lewis, the arena cost projections now include extras like equipment and landscaping. And the park now includes "a smorgasbord list" of improvements including parking park-ing for the arena, new playing fields, restrooms, pavillions, bleachers, tennis courts, and a greenbelt area that would extend to the Depot Project. Based on Park City's estimated assessed valuation of $50 million, if a Bond proposals to 3 |