OCR Text |
Show Page Twelve - The Springville mil vm by Christi C. Babbitt Staff Writer If government wants to raise taxes through special elections, elec-tions, it should allow people to vote when the greatest number of citizens takes part in the process, said Utah State Sen. Curt Bramble. Bramble, R-Provo, is sponsoring spon-soring a bill that would limit the dates when taxing entities, such as cities, counties and school districts, can conduct special elections to twice a year: the regular November election date and the fourth Tuesday of June. Primary elections are held in June every other year; Bramble's bill would allow a special election every June. "It would affect any political politi-cal subdivision that would attempt at-tempt to put a bond election on the ballot," Bramble said. The bill will be debated during the 2004 legislative session, which begins in January. A local school district official said dates for special elections are already limited lim-ited by law to a few times per year. "I don't understand why they feel like they need to go beyond what was already established es-tablished by law," said Carl S. Nielson, Nebo School District superintendent. State law allows special elections on specific days in February, May and August as well as in November as part of the regular general election. The law also allows special elections on the fourth Tuesday in June during even-numbered years. Voter turnout for "off season" elections is dismal, Bramble said, "I think it's good governance to put the question to the people at a time when you can anticipate that they'll participate," he said. The change also would eliminate costs associated with conducting a special election, Bramble said. Legislators will be considering consid-ering Bramble's bill as Nebo School District approaches voters Fed. 3 for permission to issue $140 million in bonds LOT Whim -:-J """""""" ? I I j . First S ource Funding Home Mortgage Loans Rates as low at 4.25 Free Appraisal Free Credit Check No Down Payment No Closing Costs Debt Consolidation Loans CALL PATRICK AT 489-4800 732 N! Main Street - Springville Good for Springville & Mapleton Residents, with closed loan Expires January 3 1 , 2004 Equal Housing Lender - Rates Subject to Change Herald - January 1, 2004 to build 10 new schools. "I believe the school districts dis-tricts should put the question to the voters when the voters are inclined to participate in the decision. de-cision. And they aren't inclined to do that in February, May and August," Bramble Said. "I see no reason why Nebo couldn't have put that on the ballot a month ago." Nielson said the district was still working on and studying the issue and wasn't ready to place it on the ballot last fall. Now that the district is ready, the sooner a decision is made, the better. "I think that to us it's a matter mat-ter of getting started on things sooner," he said. "Sometimes our building schedules are tight and we need to rush projects." Mike Jerman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, Associa-tion, said his organization supports sup-ports Bramble's bill. "We've noticed, especially in the past 10 years, that local governments, especially school ?. m " . , ' I t r - o" A : f 1 'J Springville sculptor Gary Price did this bronze relief titled, "Irises" in 1994. It is part of the permanent collection at the Springville Museum of Art and will be in Price's one-man exhibit opening January 4 at the museum. It will run until February 1 with a reception for Price on Sunday, Jan. 11, from 4 to 7 p.m. TM S DDI stete districts, have conscientiously avoided November elections," Jerman said. School districts are aiming for low voter turnout, Jerman said, which makes sure that voters who are particularly interested in seeing the bond issue pass show up and cast ballots. "We certainly recognize with these growing school districts dis-tricts that they do have to issue bonds," Jerman said. "But that's still no justification for having these elections in these months other than November with' the intent of rninimizing voter turnout." turn-out." Nielson said that law requires re-quires the school district to mail out cards to every home with detailed information about the special election. Nebo also will be mailing out an informational informa-tional brochure, which was paid for with donations, to district residences prior to February's election, he said. "It's not anyone's intention, inten-tion, I don't mink, to try and ' c s v - " I 'V i slip any of these elections by. We're doing everything we can to inform them," Nielson said. "We hope we get as many people out as we can and we encourage people to come out and vote. It's a major issue." At first Bramble wasn't going to include the June date in his bill, but is adding it due to requests from school district superintendents. "They indicated indi-cated that there could be some need for a spring date to allow them to respond to changes in their financial picture," Bramble said. "While I don't necessarily agree with that, I was willing to compromise." In February, American Fork voters approved the sale of $3.2 million in bonds to pay for city park improvements. Just over 8 percent of the city's registered voters turned out for the February vote, compared com-pared with about 34 percent in November's general election. However, more Springville residents voted in a special election elec-tion last August than turned out for the November election. elec-tion. A total of 45 percent of Springville's registered voters cast ballots in the August election elec-tion that defeated three bonds totaling nearly $20 million for new public buildings. Only 28 percent cast ballots for candidates candi-dates in November. rvi A in f . ""n J VU 'k Krysta, Jared and Brandon Harris, who live in Atlanta and are visiting Springville for the holidays, had a hard time coming in out of the snow. Playing in snow is not something they get to do very often, citizens are urged to keep their sidewalks clear and vehicles off of the streets so that snow plows can do their work more efficiently. 5 1-WJ mmmm 2004 WJ Stale fife JL C0HTINUINC 4 ADULT EDUCATION EuaneisBmUiiig.BUlOU -www.trasc.edWKittte'l Senior shuttle to scale hack services by Caleb Warnock Staff Writer Beginning in January, a shuttle service that takes Utah County seniors to area senior centers for lunch will begin providing service only four days, down from five days a week because of funding problems. For the second year in a row, the county will not be able to fully fund the shuttle service, said Mountainlands Department of Aging Director Direc-tor Ted Livingston. The shuttle normally runs Monday through Friday. "The cost of providing the transportation has gone u- quite a bit, insurance rates have gone up, I think just because of normal insurance insur-ance costs," said Livingston. "We just haven't been able to squeeze an increase out of state and federal funding." The county received about $82,000 in federal grants to provide the service in Utah County this fiscal year, he said. The United Way of Utah County provides the shuttle buses and Mountainlands pays for the drivers, gasoline and maintenance. Seniors will either have to stay home, find another way to the center, or look to the cities in which they live for help, he said. Livingston said there may be more bad news for the program pro-gram this summer because the SPANISH FORK Location; Spanish Fork High School 99 North 300 West, Spanish Fork Classes begin Wednesday, January 7th 28 Evening Classes Offered COURSE I D. I SEC COURSETIUE CREDIT DAY TIME SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES, ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES AVC1020 S61 BasicDrawing 3 M 6:00pm-9:30pm AVC1630 S61 IntrotoPhotography 3 TR 5:30pm-8:00pm AVC1630 S01 IntrotoPhotography 3 S 9:00am-1:30pm COMM110Q S61 Intro to Public Speaking 3 M 6:00pm-8:30pm ENGL 1010 S61 Introduction to Writing 3 T 6:00pm-8:30pm ENGL 2010 S61 lntermsdWriring:HUSS 3 W 6.00pm- 8:30pm HIST 1000 S61 American Heritage 3 W 6:00pm-8:30pm HIST 1700 S61 American Civilization 3 R 6:00pm-8:30pm HUM 1010 S61 Intro to Humanities 3 M 6:00pm-8:30pm MUS 1010 S61 Introduction to Music 3 T 6:00pm-8:30pm PHIL 2050 S61 Ethics $ Values 3 R 6.00pm- B:3Gpm PSY 1100 S61 Human Dev lie Span 3 W 6:00pm-8:30pm SOC1200 S61 Sociology of the Family 3 W 6:00pm-8:30pm SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ECFS1100 S61 Human DevLife Span 3 W 6:00pm-8;30pm SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & HEALTH ASTR1010 S61 Astronomy 3 M 6:00pm-8:30pm BIOL 1010 S61 General Biology 3 T 6:00pm-8:30pm GEOL1010 S61 Intro to Geology 3 M 6:00pm-8:30pm MATH 1040 S61 Intro to Statistics 3 MW 6:00pm-7:15pm PE-S1300 S61 Fitness for Life 1 W 6:00pm-7:40pm PE-S1300 S62 Fitness for Life 1 W 6:30pm. 810pm SCHOOL OF GENERAL ACADEMICS MAT 0950 S61 Foundations of Algebra 5 TR 6:00pm-8:05pm MAT 0990 S61 Introductory Algebra 4 MW 6:00pm-7:40pm MAT 1010 S61 Intermediate Algebra 3 TR 6 00pm-715pm INTERACTIVE VIDEO HLTH1100 SV6 Personal HealthWeO 2 W 7:00pm-8:50pm LEGL3000 SV6 BusinessLaw 3 T 6:00pm-8:30pm MGMT2300 SV6 Macfoewncmcs 3 M 6:00pm-8:30pm PSY475R SV6 Applied Parenting 3 R 6:00pm-8:30pm SOC475R SV6 Applied Parenting 3 R 6:00pm-8:30pm county expects to receive even less grant money this year than it did last year, meaning the service may have to be reduced to three days a week around July. Springville Mayor Fritz Boyer said Springville would try to find a way to pay to continue the service. "First we'll try to cut down the number of people who need rides by asking if they've got another way to get down there," he said. "If they've got another way that would be preferable. If not, we'll do our best to make arrangements to get them down there." The city could pay United Way to continue the service or find another way, he said. Boyer said the lack of funding for the bus service was part of an overall cut in funding to seniors because more money is being shifted to county youth programs. Boyer said he is part of a committee formed earlier this year to look at a new way to distribute points so that money could be disbursed in a more fair way. The committee is likely to begin it's meetings after January. Livingston said the service is important because many seniors se-niors either cannot drive or feel uncomfortable driving. "The shuttle gets them out to a hot meal where they can visit with their friends and have a social life," he said. |