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Show i " ) f By Jack Waliis I y you paid your property taxes? A ire not paid they are now delin-' delin-' Perhaps this is a good time to I re what we pay with other cities Jlies throughout the state. 'eek the Utah Foundation, a i axresearch organization, com-' com-' 'property tax mill levies of the ' :ipal' cities of the state. il City was not included in the nder why? After studying the j ie amounts other cities charge I 1 owners, it became evident. J City's tax levy is lower than any i principal' cities in the state. . Vernal collected 3.29 mills in ' hile other cities taxed the I dumber of mills: Roosevelt, Jhesne27; Provo 17.12; Ogden Price 12.79: St. Georee 18: ( .6; Tooele, 28.85; Brigham '6. I City drastically dropped its i tax levy several years ago 3 sales tax income increased -Sye businesses outside the city incentive to annex into the city idBT County's mill levy is in the "Jjigh range of most counties a been conservative over the ! about 13 percent of the revenue source comes from ) taxes or ad valoran taxes. So 0 jrty taxpayers really don't ' ..i county, most of the money pother sources, such as state al funds. 'dTk016 biggest tax jumP has - ;by special water and sewer nt districts. An example is y Valley Water and Sewer - 'it District went from 4 l mills and Lapoint-Tridell 4 to 12.71 mills, .cost of adding water and lces to areas not enjoying ces is great. Those living in .r ! are Paying the bill through tax assessments. 5ricHthehigh special improve-j improve-j xes it was more expen-.'J. expen-.'J. to live in the city. But this Unfact it has been chang-Wst chang-Wst four years The county tavlmore ProPerty taxes than . yer living in Vernal City. ,N City resident also enjoys 'Win the'r Wn Plice forCe- ;'n; water, street, sewer and ' Ces' The city also has dilg' building codes and ' .ancesthan does the coun- ode VhS enjoys a lower fire 'errn the county which "re insurance costs. But the city residents still pay the same county taxes as those living in the county. They don't pay the special improvement im-provement district taxes, however. The biggest tax bite out of our annual property assessment is taken to help support our schools. About 65 of the property taxes in Uintah County goes to the schools. This only provides about one-fourth of the money needed for the operation of our local schools. The rest of this money has to come from state and federal funds. So, when we look at the whole picture, the property taxpayer isn't contributing so much after all. It just feels like it. If a water system required 10 mills to finance in a water district imagine what it would require to finance all the facilities of a new city including streets, sewer, schools and water! New industry brings in a new source of taxes and also more people to help pay taxes. It also brings with it more expenses such as those caused by the demand for additional services. It is important that the balance of income equals that of expenses. No one realizes this better than those government taxing tax-ing entities who are now figuring out their 1981 budgets. The secret is not to spend more than you make. This lesson is being learned by the special water districts and it is continually a problem with development. develop-ment. There must be a source of income before we can buy new products, conveniences, conve-niences, or even necessities. Uintah County and Vernal City have enjoyed a conservative tax levy with gradual growth. This has been possible because of the areas conservative nature. For example the area has probably pro-bably voted down more bond issues than any other area its size, because this is the nature of the voters. Can Uintah County and Vernal City maintain this conservative taxation under a stepped-up growth situation. We would hope so, but it will not be easy As plans for additional cities, services ser-vices and subdivisions come with the influx of people due to local energy development, we expect many more problems and demands. These demands can financially bankrupt the local taxing entities, if Seyare not careful. There is always he danger of taxing the people more han they can afford or spending more Ean can be collected. No growth is worth bankruptcy or financial enslave- ment- OUo Let's keep our taxation rate one of the lowest in the state and still manage to provfde the needed services for a good life. It can be done. |