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Show Home of The Mormon Miracle Pageant 1990 Dates: July 12, 13, 14 and 17 thru 21 50 a copy Volume 104 Number 21 now, Snow, Snow! Get the drift? y.v; .. MANTI, UTAH 84642, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 19891 No tax increase this year, County Commissioners say JENNINGS Although some Sanpete BY BRUCE County employees might disagree, the Commissioners dont have surnames like Scrooge, although they do maintain tight spending controls. That means that at the 1990 budget hearing on Dec. 15 at 11 a.m. taxpayers will get the good news: no increases in the levy, no dipping into the carry-ove- r from the days when revenue exceeded expenditures, no borrowing on tax anticipation notes. Hie details on the 1990 budget havent been completed yet and allocations from the general fund f are still tentative. But the preliminary work is nearing com- v. pletion. lowstorm of the winter left a good six i o a desert climate currently below non The Commissioners spent Manti plans Christmas celebration for Dec. 1 6 The Manti City Christmas Committee has worked up an incredible celebration to be held on December 16th. The thought of once again sponsoring a Christmas movie in the City Auditorium created a great deal of enthusiasm. Adding to the festivities many hundreds ofdollars in drawings and gift certificates will be given out at the special Christmas program. The traditional sidewalk booths will also be there to hot chocolate, Navajo tatasty treats and other holi- serve cos, Manti LDS Temple day goodies. special movie was selected to renew all old traditions. The Manti Ambulance Association will be chaperoning this movie and there will be a minimum donation of 25 cents for admission into the movie. All donations will go to the Manti Ambulance Association. A The special Christmas program will begin at 4 p.m. with local entertainment and talent. At this time, the winners of this years lighting contests will be announced and also with any $5.00 purchase at participating stores you will receive tickets for the drawing for gifts that will also be held at that time. After the program, Santa Claus will be ushered into town on the Manti fire truck to conclude the program. offices to fill out the entry form. The entry forms will need to be back to the city offices the day before the contest you are entering. The lights will need to be turned on before 5 p.m. on the day the contest will take place. If your lights are not on when the judges come around, your entry will be void. If you miss them and you have time to sign up for the next contest, please do so. To encourage more participants it was decided to have three lighting contests this year. The first one to be called The Season Rushers will be held on December 2nd. The second contest The Holiday Jumpers will be held on December 9th. The final contest The Classic Elegance will be held on December 15th. All entries will get $7.00 off your power bill. You will need to come into the city The prizes will consist of a set for the winner of the Season Rusher, a set for the winner of the Holiday Jumper, and for the Classic Elegance the 1st place winner will receive $40.00, 2nd place WAPA asks for 45 The Western Area Power Administration has upped the ante. The agency, which originally asked for a 35 percent rate hike, which would cost Manti an additional $40,000 and Ephraim an additional $25,000 for the federal power they purchase, said at a meeting in Salt Lake last week that instead of the 35 percent increase theyll ask for a 45 percent increase. If the 45 percent increase is approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Ephraim, Manti and other cities will see their power costs increased several thousand dollars more above the original $40,000 and $25,000. According to Lloyd Greiner, Western Area Power Administration manager, the proposed 45 percent increase is necessary for three main reasons: because operation and maintenance of the federally owned dams and transmission systems have increased by around 25 percent since the last rate increase in 1933, because droughts have caused WAFA to purchase more power to meet its contractual obligations and because of WAPAs financial obligations to the Central Utah hydro-electri- c 100-lig- ht 300-lig- winner $20.00, and the 3rd place winner $10.00. All entries will be judged in the final contest To receive more information about the events contact the City offices. rate increase Project. And puttingmore money into the CUP is a particularly sore point with some Sanpete County officials because the countys tax payers are even now putting around $100,000 a year into a project they claim will provide Sanpete with little if any benefit. At last weeks meeting, Alene Bentley, ICPA spokeswoman, said a sharp jump in the cost of federal power would have a seriously adverse impact on ICPAs consumers. Many of them," she said, are farmers who already have been hurt by the economy, or they are older people on fixed incomes. The increase, Ted Olson, Ephraim Power Board chairman pointed out, would amount to more than the net profit produced by Ephraims mini hydro plant that went on line a few weeks ago. in the rates that Ephraim charges its electricity consumers. And of course, Manti would have to take similar action. WAPA plans to hold public hearings on the proposed increase, which would go into effect Oct. 1, 1990 and an estimated 400,000 Utahns, who fedbenefit from the eral power are likely to voice their strong opposition to any increase before the Federal Energy Commission makes its decision. low-co- st The FEA will then approve the increase, refer it back to the WAPA for further study, or deny Ephraim and Manti, among others, have a large stake in how that decision goes. much of Tuesdays meeting making final adjustments in 1989 ai .ounts, but also making sure that no departmental expenditures exceeds their allocations. For many years the County Commission has taken pride in operating on current revenue without issuing tax anticipation notes - something not many Utah counties have been able to -- do. Five years ago the countys carry over from the good years when there were surpluses was $1,800,000, and the county has been drawing down on the surplus in order to balance the budget without making significant tax increases. The carryover, as county auditor Jay Alder calls it, is now $1,200,000. In 1990, for the first time in five years we wont have to draw Mr. down on the carry-over, Alder said. Overall, the fair showed receipts of $69,544. 17 and expen-- , ditures of $66,584.43. The receipts included the countys $15,000 appropriation, the disbursements, $7,359.15 for fairgrounds improvements and maintenance. The county doesnt operate the fair as a event, Mrs. Roberts pointed out, but as a countywide togetherness activity. Thousands of dollars, for example, are distributed in the forms of awards to money-makin- g During Tuesday mornings meeting, Shirley Roberts, fair board secretary, turned in her exhibitors. report on the 1989 fairs financial operations. Her report The Commission also had to showed a beginning balance in deal with the usual requests for the fair account of $15,933.18 property tax relief and reports and a closing balance of from Richard Olson, road supervisor and Sheriff Wallace $18,892.92. Buchanan on matters related to The demolition derby was a their departments. money maker income, $9,115.00; At its Dec. 5 meeting the expenditures, $3,744.10; profit, Commission expects to hear a $5,370.90. report from the State Tax ComThe concert was also a money mission on property reappraisal maker: receipts, $17,208.00, in Sanpete County. expenditures, $11,312.90; profit, And in preparation for the $5,895.01. Dec. 15 public hearing on the The rodeo and horse penning 1990 budget, the Commissionalso made money, but the ers plan to keep their calculahorse pulling and the Miss tors clicking at they juggle acSanpete contest lost minor counts to bring them into line amounts. with projected rvnie fair-boo- k, School District posts 71 student enrollment increase BY BRUCE .JENNINGS The Sanpete County School District still hasnt a clear focus on the effect the Gunnison Regional Prison will have on School. And it has also put added strain on classroom space, with some classes held in portable in first grade, 52 in second grade, 56 in third grade, 74 in fourth grade and 81 in fifth grade. classrooms. Ephraim Elementary School has 51 in kindergarten, 71 in first grade, 85 in second grade, 63 in third grade, 79 in fourth grade and 69 in fifth grade. Ephraim Middle School has 138 in sixth grade, 126 in s grade and 141 in eighth grade. Manti High School has Ilf ir ninth grade, 117 in tenth gri.de, 98 in eleventh grade and 95 in twelfth grade. What effect will the antici- In anticipation of further growth in student numbers next student enrollments. trend in the a The impact to date, during year the and possibility of the construction period, has been district, more than the usual increase relatively minor, district offi- because of the prison, the discials say. trict plans on another portable families into moving They say unit at Gunnison Valley High the Gunnison Valley area beSchool and possibly another one cause of prison employment have at Ephraim Middle School, Supt this year enrolled 12 children in Lewis Mullins said. the two Gunnison schools, but This year there are 188 chilbelieve these schools will receive dren in the districts kindergaradditional students during the tens, the smallest number of the school year for that reason. six elementary years, and 150 1116 districts six schools have high school seniors. 71 more students in their classManti Elementary School has rooms than last year, according 60 children in Kindergarten, 58 to the report submitted to the Utah State Office of Education fall enrollment. on 1989-9Fifty of the 71 are attending Gunnison Valley Elementary Novembers long dry spell and Gunnison Valley High ended over the weekend with a School, with the elementary deposit of snow that delivered cchool having 603 students this around six inches of the white year, as compared with 579 last stuff in the valley and several year, and the high school 396 feet on the mountain watersheds. Like Novembers earlier snow students, as compared with 370 last year. Ephraim Elementary is the only school to show a decrease this year: down to 418 children from last years 433. The Ephraim Middle School is up to 409 from last years 370; Manti Elementary, 414 as compared with last years 381, and Manti High School, 429 as compared with last years 400. 10-ye- ar 0 pated have on those numbers next year? Thats the $64 question that South Sanpete District officials wish they had the answer to. Heavy snow ends dry spell storm, which contained more than a half inch of water, this was a wet one, too, with about .7 inch of moisture in some locations. Although the two storms (Continued on Page 2) Overall, South Sanpete School Districts present enrollment is 2,604, last year's was 2,533. And the 2,604 figure doesnt include Mr. Olson is also vice president of the Intermountain Consumer Power Association, which numbers Ephraim among its 35 members. He said that any significant increase in the cost of Colorado River power would undoubtedly require an increase kindergarten, a new program this year. pre-scho- ol The increased enrollment has required the employment of three additional teachers: 1 12 at the Ephraim middle School and 1 1 2 at Gunnison Valley High I Car which was heavily damaged In accident on US 89 north of Manti, and which weather probably was a contributing factor. No one was injured in the accident. |