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Show Grand Could Gain Up to $240,599aYearifNew Law Passes in Senate . If legislation passed late last week by the U. S. House of Representatives is approved by the Senate and signed by the President, Grand County could gain some $240,599 each year from the federal government. The legislation is a long-sought reimbursement to local governments for federal land that cannot go on their tax rolls to provide revenues from personal property tax. Pushing the legislation for many years have been the western states, who have great percentages of federally-owned federally-owned and administered land in them. According to Rep. Gunn McKay, D-Utah, this could mean nearly $7.5 million a year for the state with the biggest slices going to Box Elder County. "The bill is a move to compensate communities which have been denied a tax base because they are surrounded by federal lands," said Mr. McKay. "Under the Constitution, lands owned by the federal government are exempt from taxation. The immunity of the federal government from state taxation was aimed at preserving the supremacy of the federal government, not penalizing the communities located adjacent to the federal lands. "It is the obligation of the federal government to make sure that all people bear an equal responsibility in supporting these lands. As it stands, the communities commun-ities provide fire protection, road maintenance, law enforcement and other services on federal lands and receive little compensation. "The passage of the bill is the fulfillment of the recommendations made by the Land Law Review. Commission several years ago. The Commission recommended the payments be made because 'the existing revenue sharing programs do not meet a standard of equity and fair treatment of either the state and local governments or to the federal taxpayers'." Lands on which the "in lieu" revenue tax payments would be made include national forests, national recreation recrea-tion areas, national parks, wilderness areas, Bureau of Land Management lands and water resource lands. Indian and military reservations would not be covered. Payments are based on 75 cents per acre, modified by a population factor, it was pointed out. Counties electing to participate in the plan would have to forfeit current income from federal land resource sales, but in Grand County that would amount to only a little over $40,000 per year according to word this week from County Clerk Barbara Domenick. Sen. Frank E. Moss, D-Utah, stated following action byh the House, that he fully expected passage in the Senate in the immedite future, paving the way for the measure to become law, if signed by President Gerald R. Ford. San Juan County Commissioner Calvin Black, a member of the National Association of Counties committee which has been working on the legislastion, and himself a candidate for Congress, said in Moab last Friday: "We have been fighting for this legislation for many years, and it is long overdue. It is gratifying to finally see steps taken to rectify this inequitable situation." He ' pointed out that this bill provides only a partial compensation for the tax base lost by the counties because of federal tax immunity. Also, the bill compensates the counties according to resident population. popula-tion. Commissioner Black stated that this is unfair to the counties like San Juan and Grand, where the influx of visitors placed an additional burden on county services. "We pay a great deal more for all county services during the summer months, and especially for emergency jeep patrols and other measures geared to the 'impact population' of visitors." Despite these objections to the bill, Mr. Black was pleased to see the House take action on the matter. Neighboring counties would receive: $354,742 in San Juan; $230,092 in Emery and $322,340 in Uintah. Revenues to the Counties could be used for general county funding purposes, and would not be earmarked, which would mean that counties could reduce mill levies to local property owners considerably. |
