Show At the Uintah County preliminary budget hearing Monday afternoon it was pointed out by Jack Olsen who is the watchdog for or the Utah Taxpayers Association that the county had lost a source of revenue by the recent annexations annexations an an- into Vernal City of the growing industrial oil service area on the east side of the city Utah Taxpayers represents the large taxpayers of the state such as Chevron Oilin Oil Oilin Oilin in our county and of course they are interested in lowering the mill levies in the various counties Olsen makes it a practice to attend as many budget hearings as he can throughout the state and speaks out whenever he Se sees S what he thinks is an area where the budget can be reduced and the mill levy lowered Olsen seemed to be fairly well weIl satisfied with the proposed county budget He stressed the need to conform to a more standardized method of presenting the budget items so they could be compared with previous years He lie also stressed that the general fund accounts should remain about the same as last year and that the tort liability levy could be reduced He lie was also concerned that the increase in the mill levy to cover the hospital bonds starting in 1978 or 1979 would not be excessive Olsen provides a great serice service service ser ser- vice ice to the taxpayers by keeping his thumb on the fiscal operations of the counties in Utah He was especially doing a service for the taxpayers in Uintah County Monday since no taxpayers had made the effort to attend the hearing Concerning the city annexation an an we we fe hope the county will not continue to hold this over over the city as an an und underhanded way of taking the optional sales tax revenues away from county use A AJ growth comes to an area it itis itis itis is inevitable that both the county and city will be by this growth The problem is the only way Vernal City can grow is by expanding into the county and taking some some- of at r the best growth area Olsen explained it well when he said they had taken the cream and left This may be so but Vernal City probably needs the additional optional sales tax revenue from the newly annexed annexed annexed an an- eastside industrial area I as much or more than Uintah County The county has many areas of potential revenue growth in its vast mineral and resource lands that the city does not have The city can provide the services needed by businesses coming to the area if it can expand and enforce a strict zoning program The county can also provide the services needed by industry coming into the county What is good for Vernal City is good for Uintah County and vise versa In time we are sure the growth of the area will equalize and both governmental agencies will get their just share of the income revenues Uintah County has done a terrific job with its road program It has provided and maintained roads into areas needed by oil companies to drill for oil and gas In return the oil companies are a large contributor contributor contributor con con- to the county property tax income Vernal City and Uintah County have both done an admirable admirable ad ad- mirable job of instituting zoning ordinances The reason the oil service companies are all ali located east of Vernal is not by chance but because of enforced zoning This has nas centralized the area and has left the area west westHof of Hof Vernal free of other service and retail businesses In almost any growth situation it appears to begin with that one entity may have havethe havethe havethe the advantage over the other but in the long run everyone benefits Growth can eit either er cause city and county governments to grow together or it can cause them to fight over who gets what and neglect the real responsibility of community service After all city taxpayers are county taxpayers and county taxpayers benefit from city improvements County residents enjoy the space advantages advantages advantages ad ad- vantages of living in inthe the county and city residents enjoy the convenience of city life and each can enjoy the improvements im inv and services of both county and city Rut Out at budget and tax payment time things sometimes take on a different complexion because of the all aU this who problem pays for |