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Show Ttoiyglhifis mi teri(dl Wr (Rates Him taffitioM By GARY R. BLODGETT BOUNTIFUL It's never a good "political move" to raise taxes or increase rates but there comes a time in all cities, counties and states that this becomes a necessity and in Bountiful I think now is the time. NO, I'M NOT in favor of increased rates any more than anyone else. I have to pay the same increased rate as you do, and it hurts my pocket book just as much as sours. But at the same time, when increased expenditures for one reason or another make It necessary to raise taxes or rates . to balance the budget, then it should be done. THAT IS, OF course, after everything else has been done to "trim the fat," so to speak, and to reduce those expenditures to the proverbial rock bottom. It's up to you to determine if the latter has been accomplished prior to the city council giving its stamp of approval to the new culinary water rate increases. I DO KNOW that a lot of research has .... , been put into the proposal it wasn't just a passing fancy. Bountiful's new city manager. mana-ger. Tom Hardy, along with city recorder Arden Jenson and Mayor Elmer W. Barlow, Bar-low, looked not only at the surface of the water department budget but spent many hours with Bob Carlson, water superintendent, superinten-dent, researching the water budget and accounts. They know, through their research, just where the money is coming from and where it's going. They found, for example, that nearly 25 percent of the total expenditures of $712,041 for the fiscal year ending last June 30 was attributed to depreciation and that about one-fifth of the budget went towards to-wards materials and supplies. THESE ITEMS HAVE been caught in a spiraling inflation and the added expense along with the increased salaries and benefits be-nefits that all city employees received have simply pushed the expenditures about $46,877 into the red. A city water department, along with sewer, sew-er, sanitation and recreation departments, should be self-supporting. They should not have to be subsidized by the city's general fund. BOUNTIFUL'S SEWER department, although it has been combined with the water department, has a separate accounting account-ing budget and shows a slight ($ 1 3 ,540) profit pro-fit for last fiscal year. The city-owned golf course, too, is beginning be-ginning to break into the black showing about a $20,000 profit but the recreation department, despite an increase in recreation recrea-tion fees, is still showing a whopping deficit of about $1 10.000. DESPITE AN INCREASE in the gdf course operation, golf fees were increased slightly (25 cents per nine holes) to keep it on a pay-as-you-go basis. And in my opinion, opin-ion, that's fine. That's the way it should be (and I play quite a bit of golf). The sanitation department dipped to aV out $10,650 in the red for the past six months and it probably won't be long until city officials increase these rates as well. BUT AGAIN. THE big deficit lies with the recreation department with its very costly programs and facilities to maintain. Something is going to have to be done to reduce these costs. But I don't know the answer. I'm convinced that recreation fees have reached the saturation point. So for the time being, you can rule that out. And apparently City Manager Tom Hardy feels the same way. BIT WHAT ARE the alternatives? .;' Here are a few: ( I ) Leave the small indoor pool open and operate at a loss with the city's general budget subsidizing the deficit; de-ficit; (2) lease the pool to groups perhaps the school district to operate during th : winter months and have the city operate it during the three months (June. July and : ; August) when school is not in session: (3) ' keep the pool open but operated by private or non-profit groups: (4) close the pool for : : the nine-months' period (excluding June. July and August) when the pool shows a profit; and (5) abandon the facility as a recreational operation. "I DON'T KNOW the answer.' said City Manager Hardy, "but wc have cut back personnel and operating expenses to -rock bottom and the only other alternative is to have more usage providing substan- :; tially more income." So there you are folks. That's the wav I see it. ' |