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Show W H Obituaries B2 g Utah News B4 J ' JlS y Q)j Qjjj The Daily Herald . 5 Thursday, October 26, 1995 . 1 encysi mipaui in Orem uoh-j- vl wLjme. tm. sm Am M One of the biggest battles in several years will take place in the Utah Legislature when it convenes in January a battle between the Utah Taxpayers Association and the Utah League of Cities and Towns over city business license fees. The Taxpayers Association, led by State Sen. Howard Stephenson, has vowed a campaign to limit the authority of cities to impose what Stephenson calls "tax-like- " business license fees. He cites in particular "a license fee in excess of 4 percent on hotel room rentals" imposed by Provo City "at 12:30 a.m. (after midnight) during a public hearing where the city hall doors had been, locked at 9 p.m." Pfovo's municipal council did indeed vote" for a 4 percent room debated By DONALD W. MEYERS The Daily Herald Orem's Photos courtesy MSgt. Craig LeaperUtah studer.is meet center, on Wednesday at Nephi Elementary School Gov. Mike Leavitt, ruq-fre- National Guard and violence. Students from eight schools around the state attended the event. the Utah State Capitol because the entire school pledged to be free from illegal drugs students meet governor e To Josephine Back at the Desk tax in excess of the state's Transient Room Tax, but quickly reduced it to .5 percent. Stephenson says another tax, the most flagrant, is the business license fee which is calculated as a percent of retail sales. "This is effectively a local option sales tax which exceeds the statutory local sales tax limit of percent" set by the Legislature, he wrote in a recent edition of the association's newsletter. He further claims that the fee is not limited in any vay. Further, the cities are not Squired to share the revenue, as thiey mufct under the percent local' option sales tax law. He also claims that the statute allowing cities to impose fees for the cost of licensing and regulating businesses is subject to "extreme abuse" because a are collecting additional 1 1 se 1 few-citie- revenues. The League of Cities and Towns says state statutes allow municipalities to impose business license fees to cover the costs of regulation and also to raise revenue so long as it is based on uniform standards of assessment. League officials say they don't know what The Utah Taxpayers Association has in mind, but they are warning municipalities not to be shocked if it is legislation seeking to limit the fees so that a municipality may assess a fee to cover regulatory costs only, and nothing more. "This could be a devastating financial blow for many municipalities, and logically most of theni would be forced to raise property taxes to recoup their losses," league leaders pointed out at a recent meeting. Currently the league is completing an extensive survey on how cities are collecting these fees, but it is safe to say many different methods are used. Some cities assess a flat rate fee based on gross receipts while others assess a percentage of gross receipts. Some cities base part of the fee on the number of employees at a business, and others choose to assess a fee based on the amount of personnel time it commonly takes to regulate the business. Many cities use a combination of these methods with each considering its own particular circumstances and needs. The league is taking the stand that the Legislature should not pass any legislation that will alter, limit or restrict the current taxing authority of municipal governments in Utah. In the meantime. Stephenson is calling municipal officials "the least responsive and least forthright" of any elected officials. This is contrary to the results of a recent Dan Jones poll in which Utahns unanimously said cities were the most responsive of any level of government. City officials claim they are financially to meet the burdens imposed by growth and inflation. Unlike the state and federal government, most can't accumulate surpluses and are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their financial McKayla Brough, a from Nephi Elementary fifth-grad- kick-starte- .Ribbon observances continued this 'dg.itfid Week Utah-Arizo- visiting nearly 100 public schools. At each school, they warned students about the dangers of illegal drug use and violence, and the messengers on bicycles challenged students to promise to he drug and violence free. Bikathon team members left pledge cards for students to sign and asked students to urge classmates to promised to do the Orem's growth into Wal-Mar- a t. . 1 anti'-violen- week. From Farrer Middle School in eighth-grader- s Staci Provo, YamudV-MicheltfMerritt ?and l Ashiey A'fMe'r&n piso presented a flag to the governor. They were at the Capitol witl Diane Eyre, the faculty adv isor for the Drug Free Advisory group at the Provo school. During September's Bikathon '95, a team of 21 Utah National Guard bicyclists pedaled 657 bormiles from the Utah-Idah- o der to the border, d regional shopping center and center. and candidate Andersen Michael J.S. Thompson have attacked the RDA and the tax incentives it has offered businesses such as R.C. Willey and They say it hurts local businesses and denies the school district of property tax money of the businesses Many received RDA incentives in the form of tax increment funds. Tax increment is the difference n property taxes between a sill's undeveloped and finished states! While Orem is attractive to businesses today. Squire said that was not always the case. ; Prior to the R.C. Willey dejal. Squire said businesses were being lured to Provo w ith various incentives, including land offers. To woo R.C. Willev, Orem purchased the land at SI 60.000 an acre, and sold it to R.C. Willey for S80.000 per acre, along with offering tax increment funds to help with improvements on the site. Since then. R.C. Willey has paid the city more in sales tax rev enue than the original benefit ; package cost. The school district and the county are not losing any money through the deal, despite Andersen's protests. Squire said. Before R.C. Willey came, the land was considered farmland and was not taxed as heav ily as it is now. "There is not a piece of property there that is not paying more property taxes to the school district now" than before the RDA came in. Squire said. Once R.C. Willey established itself on 1300 South, other businesses came in. some attracted by RDA benefits, others without any assistance from the city. er School. Gov. Mike Leavitt must have looked 10 feet tall as she walked up to him to present a flag signed by her and her school mates who pledged to be drug and violence free. As she "presented the flag, the governor leaned down to hear the "Governor say, Leavitt, Nephi Elementary is glad to present this flag to you today. We are the mighty, mighty Eagles. We are a drug-fre- e school." Asked how she felt making the presentation to the highest state office holder. Bough admitted. "It was scary." Brough was one of many students who traveled to the State Capitol Wednesday to meet with Gov. Leavitt. as statewide anUr Redevelopment Agency has been the catalyst for the city 's economic growth, not a force for running businesses out of the community, an economic leader said. DeLance W. Squire, executive director of the Commission for Economic Development in Orem. said the RDA agreements that City Council candidate Hans Verlan Andersen Jr. denounces actually By PAT CHRISTIAN The Daily Herald d 4 3 Licensing fight looms at Capito hard-presse- If Gov. Mike Leavitt 'congratulates students? from Vernon Elementary, Tooele County, who visited same. They ajso asked them to have students sign a flag of each 1; schobl's design'. Before leaving, the bicycling messengers told each school that the institute with the highest per- centage of students , pledging ould get to present their flags to the governor, and every school would have their flags flown in the Capitol during Ribbon Week. Wednesday was the payoff, and Lt. Col. Maureen Newman was surprised with the success of Bikathon '95. Newman commands the Utah National Guard's Drug Demand Reduction Program, and it was she who helped organize the bikathon this year and last. The colonel said Bikathon '94 v isited high schools and eventually had 12.329 students pledge to be drug free. She said the w school. Alia Hich School. w the Capitol Wednesday. The entire student body promised to stay away from drugs and violence. had 87 percent of its student body make the pledge. Newman said that this year Bikathonf95 visited mostly middle schools and junior high schools and had 43.727 students pledge to be drug free. That total was surprising enough, but Newman said what really astonished her was that eight schools tied for the honors each of the eight schools had 100 percent of the student body make the pledge. "I w as amazed. They just kept coming and coming and coming." Newman said. On Wednesday, representatives from winning schools, and in some cases the entire student body, presented their flags to the gov ernor in person. The governor praised the students' commitment and said he was proud of the National Guard bicyclists who took an important message to the youth around the state. "This is the number one National Guard in the Untied States." he said. He told students. "You can thank them by keeping your pledges." The winning schools included: Farrer Junior High school. Prov o: Grantsville Middle School: Red Hills Middle School. Richfield: Syracuse Junior High School; Fast Elementary Tooele; Ibapah School; Nephi School in Elementary Elementary School and Vernon Elementary School. e Jane Wilson, a teacher at Nephi Elementary Those additional businesses helped keep Orem consumer dol- School, said not only students some adults signed pledges did also. "We had aides, teachers, librarians and other adults at the school sign up." she said. lars within the city, as well as bring in money from other com munities. In 1989. a third of Orem resi- - fifth-grad- (See RDA, Page B2 Balance, growth main themes in Provo race By MARK EDDINGTON The Daily Herald The Provo City Council race for District II pits an incumbent. Shari Holweg. who isn't afraid to rock the boat, against challenger. Stan Lockhart. who wants to come aboard. Holweg defines the race as being about balance. A vote for her. she said, is a vote for an independent City Council that is not a rubber stamp for Mayor George Stewart. Lockhart believes the central issue of the campaign is how to deal with the city 's explosive growth while preserving neighborhoods. On the issue of balance. Holweg believes it is worth noting that Lockhart has the endorsement of the mayor. She said Stewart wants a council that will go along with his agenda and make things easier on the administration. "That's not the way it was meant to be." said Holweg. City-wid- e "Democracy isn't easy. It isn't noncontroversial. A democratic system is one that consists of a lot of debate and disagreement. But hopefully; by using the public process, the very best solutions are brought forth." Lockhart is grateful for Stewart's backing, but said he w ill be an independent voice on the council who is forceful in doing what he thinks is best for Provo. What Lockhart believes is best is for d growth thai quality, well-planne- maintains and the improves integrity of neighborhoods. To do that, he advocates a reviMaster Plan that sion of the city was dratted in 1977. As a member of the Task Force 2000 volunteer group. Lockhart has been involved with rewriting the plan. He believes the plan's completion and implementation should be has tened. "I think that if we'll start by a having detailed plan, then ev en thing else will fall into place." said Lockhart. who is a member of e the city II '.V J Plan-nin- Shari Holweg Commis- sion. "A good plan benefits residents, businesses and developers, because everyone knows what the expectations are." Lockhart is against the infiltration of apartment complexes into neighborhoods. Rather than tear down older homes and replace them with apartments and housing. Lockhart believes in using the homes in established neighborhoods to provide more affordable housing for young families and working professionals. "Affordable housing has almost become a misnomer in our city where the average price of a home is Jd 30.000 or more." he said. "1 think our existing stock of older low-inco- homes is the real key to providing affordable housing and to revitalizing our neighborhoods." Holweg characterizes Lockhart as preaching to the choir when it comes to talk of planned growth and preserving neighborhoods, saying this council has been more than any in memory. As evidence the council is already headed in the right she direction, cites the council's approv al of the Design ""'H-"- Rev iew Com- mittee to ensure new buildings fit in with existing buildings in neighborhoods IK " Stan Lockhart and commercial areas, as well as the creation of a Historic Preservation Committee. She said the real challenge is in meeting the increased demand for public services that comes with growth. "Being declared the most livable city four years ago was a mixed blessing." she said. "Basically what happened is that we told the world to come live here before we had the guest room built. Consequently, we got way behind with our infrastructure: storm drains, sewer lines, electrical service, water, sidewalks and roads. Priority wasn't given to providing basic public services, which is where tax POOR COPY dollars have to go first." On Academy Square. Lockhart is in support of exhausting all available means to restore the historic property as long as no tax dollars are expended. Holweg is amenable to using tax dollars for restoration if the decide." he said. Both candidates agree that more needs to be done for the youth of the city. Lockhart. who serves on a youth advisory council for the Academy's Education Building and College Hall are used for a new city library. If the cost of placing the library there is more than building one somewhere else, she said the Brigham Young Academy Foundation could make up the difference with donations from the private sector. Holweg and Lockhart are also on opposite sides of the sw imming pool issue. Holweg is opposed to the mayor's decision to close the city's outdoor swimming pool on Sundays, while Lockhart is supportive of the mov e. Both candidates are equally divided over what to do about the controversy. Holweg doesn't favor a citizens' referendum on the matter, saying it could prove divisive enough to "rip the city apart." Lockhart believes the only way to put the matter to rest is to let the citizens decide whether they want the city to provide swimming and other services on Sundays. "If people want these services open on Sunday, they can say that loud and clear through their vote. will they support whatever 1 state, advocates increased mentoring of youth in scouting and other programs that will supplement but not replace the family. Holweg is pushing for permanent funding for Concept Key. a program for latchkey children that is currently paid for with federal Community Development Block Grant money. To make downtown Provo viable. Holweg said it is imperative that traffic concerns be addressed She said the city should quit prolonging the inevitable and designate some of the streets for one-wa- y traffic. She also said another east-wetraffic artery is needed to link the neighborhoods west of the interstate with the rest of the city. st Lockhart believes the city must focus on giving people a reason to come downtown. He said the way to do that is by providing incentives for specialty businesses to come into the area. He said the planned expansion of the Provo Park Hotel and the construction of a new office tower in the area is already serving that purpose, but more needs to be done. Lockhart said the area can also be used to provide retirement livirg for the elderly. |
