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Show Bountiful council sits still through Mayor's tax hikes Dear Editor: Bountiful residents need to know they have been slapped with two tax hikes this year. At the public hearing hear-ing Aug. 8, council members were silent while Mayor Linnell glibly proclaimed there were no tax increases in-creases this year, notwithstanding the "Notice of Tax Increase" published pub-lished in this newspaper the week before. They would have us believe their new budget, some $2.3 million higher than last year with built-in salary boosts, would not cost any new tax dollars. But, in fact, there is a 6.7 percent property tax increase just as the notice stated. This amounts to about $3.75 for a home with an assessed value of $75,000. To do that, the city had to fight the state's Truth in Taxation law M which defines setting property taxes at a rate equal to last years. Under the law, Bountiful residents were entitled to a tax decrease, and while $3.75 doesn't seem like much it will be there every year from now on. The other tax increase occurred June 1, when the same august body raised Bountiful's electricity rate by 14 percent. For every $50 a Bountiful Boun-tiful resident pays for electricity, $10 has been routinely skimmed off for city government. So this tax will be 14 percent higher from now on. Worse, a utility tax adds another $5.50 to the monthly bill. That's truth in taxation for you. G.F. Eddings Bountiful I |
