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Show Truth in taxation confuses residents procedure, but if we collected at the certified tax rate the state dictated, we'd have $1,228,000 less than last year." Hardy told citizens that the state law is "revenue driven, not rate driven." With the exception of 1983, the year of the floods, when Bountiful and other communities raised their tax rates to pay for flood control. Bountiful has not adjusted its rate in the past 10 years. Following about 45 minutes of public questioning, the Council voted to set the certified tax rate at By TOM HARALDSEN BOUNTIFULThe city's first Truth in Taxation Hearing went a long way to comfort the anxiety and quench the confusion of taxpayers attending Wednesday night's public hearing. Still, the whole issue of ' 'increased taxes versus a higher tax rate" has left residents wondering why the State Legislature ever adopted this silly notion to begin with. Bountiful Mayor Bob Linnell and City Manager Tom Hardy explained ex-plained prior to the hearing that the city had not raised its tax mill levy rate for the new fiscal year that began July 1. In order to satisfy a new state law, however, Bountiful City, along with most others in the state, was required to purchase a display ad (in this case, a quarter-page quarter-page ad in the Clipper) advertising a "tax increase." Property taxes in Bountiful increased in-creased about $ 14,000 between fiscal 1990 and the current fiscal year, due simply to new construction. construc-tion. That message was a difficult one for city staff and councilmen to convey to some voters, who obviously ob-viously had an easier time reading the advertisement than they did their property assessment notices. "The purpose of this hearing is not to increase anyone's taxes," Hardy explained. "Without this hearing, we would not be allowed to leave our certified tax rate where it has been for years. It's a confusing .001783 mills, the rate used to determine de-termine the current fiscal year budget. |