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Show Volume XVI Issue V The Ogden Valley news Page March 1, 2009 Guest Commentary Delinquent Taxes—An Untapped Revenue Source that Needs to Be Addressed by Government Leaders The recent article by Di Lewis of the Standard-Examiner “Developers pay taxes, too” did not address the central issue regarding delinquent property taxes. The counties are the collection agencies for all property taxes. Our question has always been why Weber County leadership and other county departments have allowed this arbitrary and unfair tax loophole to continue unchallenged for years with no apparent effort to request changes to the state tax laws or county collection procedures to insure that all taxes are collected on a timely basis. We should make one thing clear; this issue is not about any new taxes. It is about a collection process that has provided a legal tax loophole for large business and developer interests to defer their property taxes for almost five years if they choose to, and at a very low interest rate. Research facts indicate many large taxpayers use this tax loophole to the tune of almost $14 million in Weber County alone, and over $100 million across the State. It is important to note that if this were not a good financial tax loophole for the businesses and developers, there would not be more than $100 million dollars of delinquent property taxes in the state of Utah today. Our intent is not to punish any group of taxpayers, but to suggest a change that will encourage them simply to pay their taxes on time. Weber County has stated that any change regarding property tax collection must be made at the state level. The fact is, any change in the penalty and interest rate would require a change in the state tax code. Accordingly, Gage Froerer, our State Representative, is currently writing a bill to increase the penalty and interest for delinquent taxpayers. This bill would increase the penalties and interest to encourage the deliberate delinquent tax payers to pay their taxes on November 30 of each year. Representative Froerer has the support of the Utah Taxpayers Association on this issue. The Utah State Tax Commission member assigned to Weber County has also stated that this tax loophole should be restricted. If these penalties are increased, this increase will encourage the current delinquent taxpayers to pay their taxes on time, and isn’t that what our goal should be? Does any taxpayer or group of taxpayers deserve special tax deferment loopholes at the expense of everyone else? In addition, we disagree that the state is the only government agency that can take action to improve property tax collections. Weber County demonstrated last year that county improvements can be accomplished in property tax collections. Weber County approved a more restrictive subdivision ordinance requiring delinquent tax collection prior to any further services from the county. The current state law cited by Weber County to make this change could also be used to permit the county to expand their tax collection efforts in other areas as well. Examples of this would be asking the Assessor’s office to identify any taxpayers that are illegally using the residential exemption on more than one parcel. Another option for the county would be to deny building permits on individual properties until the property taxes are paid current. Cities and towns within the county have the ability to initiate similar building permit requirements. If they diligently worked at it, the county could develop similar innovative ideas to collect delinquent property taxes that would not require changes at the state level. Research has revealed that Weber County has three members on the Board of Directors for the Utah Association of Counties. This association opposes most changes in the current property tax collection laws. Our county representatives on the board and all three county commissioners should be the most prominent voices in supporting a change to the state property tax laws, and working to gain the support of this association for Representative Froerer’s penalty and interest tax bill. In a Standard-Examiner article, Mr. Bond of the County Treasure’s office is noted as saying that whether the property owners simply pay their taxes late or not, the county eventually collects the money it is owed. We would ask all of you to recall Mr. Bond’s response on November 30 of this year when you write your check to pay your property taxes on time. Also recall the “other” taxpayers that are not going to pay their taxes on time and may not pay those taxes for up to five years. For the last tax year, 2008, these delinquent taxpayers did not pay $9 million to Weber County on time. This is pretty hard to swallow for the rest of the taxpayers. With $9 million less in the county and state coffers, who do you suppose will supply the revenue to run the county and state services? Mr. Bond may also be the person to talk to if a sales tax increase or mill rate increase comes along in the next year or so to make up the shortfall in collected revenue. He can explain again why the uncollected and delinquent taxes don’t harm or affect the rest of us taxpayers at all. Mr. Bond also made the point that the uncollected property taxes amounted to only 1.82% of the billed taxes. He failed to mention that this is about $13 to $14 million dollars for the years 2003-2008, with $9 million that is delinquent for the year 2008 in Weber County alone. A Deseret News article on January 12, 2009, (Some big names join the list of tax delinquents) by reporter Lee Davidson, indicated that there was over $86 million in delinquent property taxes in Davis, Utah, and Salt Lake Counties. We can only speculate on what kind of impact even a portion of this revenue, if collected last November, might have had on the overall counties and state’s approach to current service cutbacks and job layoffs. With our county leadership recently using the rainy day fund to the tune of $300,000 and the specter of a mill rate increase that may raise your current property tax levels even though property values are declining (according to an interview with Representative Froerer published in this paper), those millions of dollars owed and delinquent could be a significant help towards fewer and less frequent tax increases if the county and state could figure out a timely way to collect them from the delinquent tax payers. It is also pertinent to ask that if everyone at the county level is satisfied with the current collection process, why doesn’t county leadership and its various offices promote the Representative Froerer Meets With Constituents, Dept. of Wildlife Services Over Moose Concerns– Lawmaker responds to petition signed by hundreds of constituents Representative Gage Froerer, R-Huntsville, recently hosted a meeting involving officials from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and citizens from Ogden Valley who were concerned about recent helicopter transplants of 19 moose from the Ogden Wildlife Unit to Colorado. Hundreds of residents signed a petition that expressed concerns that the moose population was far too low to withstand another transplant. Many had heard false reports that yet another transplant was planned this winter. Ron Hodson, Regional Supervisor for the DWR’s Northern Region assured the group that no further helicopter transplants were planned. He noted that during the January 7-8 transplant, 15 moose were taken from Weber Canyon between Uintah and Mountain Green and four were taken from Ogden Canyon. He emphasized that these animals were targeted because they posed hazards at residential areas and highways. Most were cows and calves. Regional Wildlife Manager Randy Wood further illustrated the scope of the problem by explaining to the group that from January 1 through April 1, 2008, 42 moose were removed one at a time from residential areas of Weber County, with 13 being removed from Ogden Valley. All of these moose were kept in Utah. The helicopter transplants were much more efficient in removing moose from dangerous areas than darting and moving individual moose by hand. Colorado paid for the helicopter transplants. Wood displayed a map that showed the locations of 413 moose in the Ogden Unit from a helicopter survey completed in early February of 2008. The group discussed mutual concerns that the moose population had possibly suffered some losses due to the severe winter of 2007-2008. Hodson stressed to the group that the 2009 transplant was targeted at moving moose from areas that posed safety hazards and that moose from North Fork, South Fork and Middle Fork were not considered for the transplant. Jim Karpowitz, Director for the DWR also attended the meeting and expressed appreciation to the group for taking time to express their concerns and interest. He also clarified the importance of big game exchanges between states in helping to establish and maintain healthy wildlife populations. Karpowitz stated that Colorado had made significant contributions to the bighorn sheep populations of Utah. Karpowitz also noted Utah has been the recipient of big game from Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. A great video clip that explains the moose and other transplants can be seen at <http:// www.atyourleisure.info/episodes.asp?season =7&episode=22&category=4> Five Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do Note: The following information was provided by our Ogden Valley CERT team. For all the folks with cell phones, there are a few things that a cell phone can do that can help in times of an emergency. Print out the following information and keep a copy in your home, car, and purse or wallet. It’s good information to have with you. Also, pass it along to a friend and your family members. Your mobile phone can actually be a lifesaver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it. yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and, interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. First Emergency - The emergency number worldwide for mobile is 112. If you find CELL PHONE cont. on page 7 Second Emergency - Have you ever locked your keys in the car? Does your car have a remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. It’s a good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and COMMENTARY cont. on page 6 Jody and Steve are celebrating 30 years at Gray Cliff We invite you to share in our anniversary! Dinner for Two - $ 0.00 1/2 order of Mushrooms or Zuchinni choice of Prime Rib or Halibut or Fried Chicken Breast Complete dinner including soda and dessert February 17 - 28, 2009 Call for reservations 392-6775. Eat’s March Madness is Back!!! 1/2 Price Pizzas That's right! Eat’s is offering their hand rolled pizzas 1/2 price for the entire month of March ComeÊtoÊPeeryÕsÊEgyptianÊTheaterÊforÊaÊrollickingÊ pub-styleÊSt.ÊPatrickÕsÊDayÊparty!ÊÊ DanœÊplaysÊCelticÊmusicÊwithÊaÊ traditionalÊbutÊmodernÊsoundÊbuiltÊaroundÊ uilleannÊpipesÊandÊtheÊfiddle.Ê MarchÊ17,Ê2009Ê7:30pm $15/$10 801-745-8618 RoosterÕsÊonÊ25thÊStreetÊwillÊbeÊhavingÊaÊ beerÊtastingÊinÊtheÊfinestÊIrishÊstyle. 5:30pmÊbeforeÊtheÊconcertÊ callÊtoÊreserveÊyourÊspace! 627-6171 PeeryÕsÊEgyptianÊTheater 2415ÊWashingtonÊBlvd. TicketsÊ801-626-8500ÊorÊ801-395-3227 Serving the Valley good food for 17 years 2595 N Hwy 162 Eden, Utah 84310 |