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Show Cat few Understand Them Tones Are Old As Civilization' their origin BY CLIFTON KERR COUNTY ASSESSOR Since coming into the as- sessor's office eight years ago, I have become increasingly aware of the need for taxpayers to become better informed concerning property tax procedures. One of my mostpleasantexperienc-e- s has been to explain to hundreds of taxpayers how the system works in valuing their property for tax purposes and how mill levies are arrived at and applied. In this and subsequent articles I hope to answer many of the questions that we are frequently asked. It is interesting to note that taxes are as old as civilization itself. As soon as there was an organized There are those who make a good case for the inequity of the property tax, and politicians occasionally run on a platform to abolish it. But a realistic approach would seem to Indicate that in the foreseeable future it will continue to be the main source of revenue for local government and schools. Property tax laws have community, there had to be taxes in some form or other for its support. And in all civilizations land ancient was the main source of revenue. The more civilized we become, the more service we demand, and the heavier the tax load becomes to supply those services, and the more diversified have become the methods of levying taxes. Today the income tax is the major source of revenue for the federal government. The sales tax has become a major source of revenue for the states, and the property tax is the chief source of taxation for counties, cities and school districts. Ait LVfi 1 i . tit Editor: It appears from the past bond election on our new pool that the question "pro or con?" was answered as the bond was defeated. Did the voters take an honest look at the condition of our present pool? Apparently not or they would have realized the many faults it holds. , few of the defects are" leading pipes, an inadequate fine ration system, water coming up through the tiles in the bottom of the pool and the acoustics are awful, making it nearly impossible to teach. It is true, that the present pool is still usable, though it defentely isn't up to enough to vote would have taken advantage of their opportunity and looked at how it really was, a pool which is much needed would soon be under way. Cindy Scott Bear River Student Bus Cut Bock; (U)iliUilirM I 'Burden' Editor: In sent regards to the letter in by Camine Thralast week, I would par. sher the pool won't five years which it last would take to get another bond issue and construction-o- f a new pool. Also, there is presently a 12 percent rise in building costs per like to contribute to what she complained of. Since the Board of Education has cut down on buses and made the bus routes longer, it has put a big burden on some people. Now, parents who have children that live too close to school to ride a bus, but live too far away to walk, have to chase after them twice a day. But I'm fortunate enough to live nine miles away from school, so I do have a bus to ride. Except our bus driver lives in East Garland and has to come all the way down to south Tre- - However, year. It is true there is a deficit which will take approximately three years to overcome. However, waiting for the bond will not solve problems. Costs for building will be higher, the pool will be needed before construction and it won't be payed back any faster. Possibly if those fortunate r Mission:' Prepare Young For Freedom By Ray Hall Uni-Serv- e Director n Yum it Take the guy out in Angry taxpayers visiting the County Assessor' office are asked to read this sign valuation by the various tax. ing bodies in the district or city where you live. In 1975 the tax dollar was levied and spent as follows: Outside of the incorporated areas the schools received 76.26 cents; the county, 21 cents, and the mosquito district 2.74 cents of every tax dollar. If you the bicentennial anniversary of our great nation, we pay much eloquent lipservice to freedom. We even boast that we give modern students more freedom than any previous generation. Herein we err. We cannot give freedom. It must be learned. The mission of the schools should be to prepare young people for feeedom, to equip them to be free. No one can ever be free who has notacquired sufficient knowledge As we celebrate to recognize various alternatives, assess the probably consequences of each, and then choose intelligently. Lack of direction must not be confused with freedom. Educators have abdicated their responsibility when they allow students to plan the curriculum and take only the courses they choose. Students in the public schools cannot possibly know what subjects will enrich their capacity for future fruitful living. Many a student has acquired an interest in and discovered an aptitude for some subject he would gladly have avoided if he could have. Let us not limit our young people by giving them too much fake freedom. Let us rather help them to prepare for the responsibilities of real freedomwhich is not only the right to choose but the ability to choose wisely, not only the right to enjoy life but the capacity to enjoy the richness that life offers to the well prepared. to. believe our new system wasting more time and energy than it is saving. The bus driver (our third one this year) does everything to try to get us to school on time, but he is just not able to because of the long bus route and all the stops. Also, I believe we need to run activity buses again, because now there are more activities going on. The junior high and high schools are both starting baskethave ball, and the girl's volleyball. The students involved in these activities live all over the valley, so that makes a third trip to school for the parents. I don't think we are helpthe energy crisis at ing all with this new system of buses. Consider this, and I hope we can get it changed again, but this time for the better. I is live in Brigha City, down 62.91; it breaks as follows: Schools, county, 17.32; Brig-ha- m City, 17.5; and mosquito abatement, 2.26. If you live in Tremonton City, it breaks down to: Schools, 58.23; county, 16.63; city, 23.65; and mosquito abatement, 2.09. From the foregoing fig- ures it is evident that any Federal unknown Wage Structure Needs Adjustment ARTHUR REDDING BOX ELDER COUNTY SHERIFF of this year, the sheriffs January department moved into a new building, without any input as to its design by the previous sheriff or myself. We are utilizing the building to the best of our ability. We have assumed our responsibilities In areas of complete jailing for all departments in the county that we have been previously unable to do. We dispatch for all departments, Including UHP but not for Brigham City Police Department The cost of such complete services and operations could not be estimated by the commissioners or myself. Since I have been in office we have utilized over $100,000 worth of 6 effort to decrease taxes would have to take into consideration how percentages of the tax dollar going to the various taxing bodies of the county. In the next article we will discuss how appraisers arrive at the assessed valuation of a property. funds to help us offset these costs. In the area of wages for the department this responsibility rests upon the county and commissioners! At the present time the starting wage of a deputy is $7,440 a year, and because of their wages I am faced with possible future insurrmountable pressures to my deputies and demands by people in Box Elder County. If some of the deputies leave because of wages, it will be necessary to reduce the patrol in the county again to eight hours, instead of the now 24. This would force us to respond to emergencies only after 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. work-da- y hours. This would allow little or no protection for the smaller towns in the county who cannot currently afford their own police protection but contribute to the tax base for such services. At times, because of their responsibilities in transporting juvenile, mental patients and felons, this would consume out entire patrol staff. After four meetings with the commissioners, some with the chairman, and then with the cominis stomas a whole, v their pay proposal.would .not bring, us up equal to the level that the Brigham City Police Department patrolman currently receives and allow the desperately needed rank structure. The Highway Patrol and Brigham City Police Department would be on a six month level ahead of the sheriffs department dep- his future one day in a bar, as he tells it when the idea struck him. Everybody needs a pet right? And what would make a better pet than a rock. A what? A rock. That's right the guy is now marketing pet rocks. What is even more fantastic and bears out my initial observation, he's selling about 10,000 of them a day. For something like $4.95 a pet lover can be on his way home with his own pet rock, complete with travelling case, and a multi-pamanual on how to train your rock. The rocks come from a beach somewhere in Mexico. Prospective buyers are even encouraged to come in earlier meeting, one of our commissioners comented on our wages, and stated that, "I have to pay at least $900 to get decent help to milk my cows". Another commissioner com- they're terrific at Well, obeying the command "set" or "stay." They can also be trained to attack since they willingly subject themselves to being used as a weapon. But they make lousy watch dogs. They'll also do such tricks as pretending to be a paper weight with patience and long training. And they'll play dead, too. I think Til rush out and get one. ge WANTED Lube and Good Car Wash working conditions. retirement Rack Man. Hospital insurance & Opportunity for advancement.! program. FRONX CHEVROLET CO. 257-533- 405 1 Jf. 6 Main. Tremonton THE BOX ELDER COUNTY JEEP PATROL IS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS for new members. up from James Applications may be picked mented upon the possibility of deputies leaving for salary related reasons cont. on page three Brigham City, accepted by Checketts, 565 South 3rd Applications 723-308- any current CLOSING DATE will West, be member. IS NOV. 30TH. If you've been driving to larger communities, to do your shopping, you've been passing up bargains in your own backyard ! Our own local merchants have merchandise at competitive national brand-nam- e in these and days of high priced fuel, it just prices makes sense to shop closer to home ! A'V; tired, over-civiliz- ed people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home, that wilderness is necessity, and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." r.i i Shop At Home John Muir ". 1898 leader-Garhn- rally. The guy was contemplating Your Community Building Bank Is Involved BsckToKsture of that his fortune lay just a a way-- lite stones's throw At an Bear River Student n, Ca- lifornia who one day decided uties. Michelle Jensen "Thousands and browse before they buy so they can choose a pet which fits their own personality. What are the advantages of owning a pet rock? Well, among other things, the promoter points out that rocks eat very little. There's no dog food to buy. They don't have to be house trained...and bath Infrequently. You don't have to take the m for walks. And , thus far no city council has passed an ordinance requiring them to have a license. You also don't have to worry about them being run And you over buy cars. don't have to chase away male rocks during mating season. What can you train a pet rock to do? Old Star-Gaz- er is constantly amazed at both the Ingenuity and the gullibility of people. The old saying says there's a fool born every minute, but some pretty Inge nlus people also sneak into this world. item monton every morning and evening to run his bus route. Our bus route has been lengthened to twice the size it normally was, so now the junior high and high school students are late to school almost everyday, and it's not the bus driver's fault Our route backtracks at least four times, and the bus has about 70 students on it mostly grade school age, so the re are three or four on a seat The route ends so the grade school must be let off first (to avoid even more backtracking), and they are , usually tils first ones tcu. school since they start later than the junior high and high school. Then the bus must go through town and up to the junior high. Finally, the high school gets off last and usually the bell has rung, or is just about nerve-shake- 0 state con- in the stitution and the tax laws enacted by the State Legislature. Under these laws the State Tax Commission is charged with the duty of carrying out these mandates of the legislature. The duties of the county assessor are likewise spelled out in the law, and his oath of office requires that he faithfully uphold the law. One of the most important functions of the tax commission is to see that property is assessed on a uniform basis in all 29 counties. If this Is done, then any difference in taxes on like porp-er- ty in various counties would result solely from the mill levy imposed by local government The amount of taxes anyone pays on his or her property is based on the assessed value and the number of mills applied against that To The Editor Did Voters Take Honest Look? Tiltt mm 'Dear Citizen' Letters 3 w d Tom Published every Thursday Leader Publishing 10 North 1st West, Tremonton, Utah. Box Subscription rate: Elder, Cache, and Oneida -$5.50 per year, all other areas $6.00 per year. Second Class Postage paid at Tremonton, Utah 84337. ."T"';. by the Co. at MKMHKH FKDKRAL gromrii DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION Buying here helps build our community ! Keep your money working where it does the most good for you... at home ! YOUR COMMUNITY BUILDING BANK agk 4 |