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Show 2 Sun Advocate, Price, Utah Friday, December 17, 1982 must estimate revenue from this tax by Dec. 1, 1982. There are many factors that can a conversation with... Lee Semken You recently won to the Carbon County Comterm. mission for a What is your agenda for the next two years? In planning my agenda for the next two years, my involvement at several levels of government has made it necessary to prioritize my efforts and goals. First, I was elected to serve as a Carbon County commissioner for the next two years, and as such, along with the other two commissioners, must do all I can to provide the necessary service to county residents in the most way possible. two-ye- Local county government. inequities in tax system, Land Board relationship between county government and various state agencies. We are making a lot of progress in these problem areas and I intend to continue my involvement. Third, while not as visible, but extremely important to all county governments, I am presently serving as a member of the National Association of Counties Public Lands Steering Committee. The benefits to nationally, county government particularly those in the rural areas, are finding it very difficult, if not impossible, to provide the needed service in todays economy. We are faced with an increasing demand for services, increasing costs and decreasing revenues. Considering these facts, I feel that if we are to meet the needs of the residents of Carbon County, it will be necessary to the role and functions of county government, existing sources of revenue and explore the feasibility and possibility of other sources of revenue. Second, Im presently serving as of president Association the Utah and Counties of serving on several state-lev- el committees. In these capacities, Ive been active in several major issues or problem areas sTockTng?tuf7ers J Custom Wheels starting at t appropriation by Congress. Carbon Countys share of that amounts to approximately $340,000. We have budgeted that amount for 1983 despite the fact that to date, Congress has not, and possibly may not, fund the program in 1983. derived from the efforts of this committee are widespread, the most significant being the fact that this committee is responsible for the passage and continuation of the federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes legislation. Carbon County receives approximately $340,000 from this program, and I intend to continue serving on this committee. Much of your energy has been spent in an effort to get the state to modify the property tax structure in order to lighten the d burden on the Would you update us taxpayer. on the progress of this endeavor? The major problem in the Utah property tax structure is the variation in formulas used to assess various types of property. The division of the state Tax Commission that supervises utilities, 637 2480 Commission Chairman Dave Duncan has admitted to me that there are problems in the system that must be corrected. He has agreed to participate with the counties in working toward a fair solution and the locally-assesse- properties, par- ticularly residential. This has resulted in an unfair d shift of the tax burden to shift a that properties, will continue until the Tax Commission standardizes its assessment formulas. unI have been trying successfully for the last three years to get the Tax Commission to address this problem. During this period of time, the Legislature has passed several laws in an attempt to rectify the problem, which has resulted in several lawsuits by railroads mines, and metalliferous is proceeding administratively to effect a change in the assessment formula for coal mines. The most encouraging aspect of this issue is that the governor has made a commitment to the counties that his staff and the state Tax Commission will work with the counties in an effort to resolve the problem administratively. You have mentioned before that a number of factors make the formation of a county budget something of a guessing game. Would you elaborate on that? The fiscal year for county government begins on Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31. State law mandates that the county must operate that year on revenues received during that year. State law also mandates that the mines challenging the constitutionality of these laws. These lawsuits are still pending. As I mentioned, Ive been involved in this issue for the last three years, and until recently, has the Tax Commission j division state-assesse- d locally-assesse- and gas and oil companies uses what is commonly referred to as the income method, while the division that to inequities do exist in the state-assesse- i Price recognize that system. Recent remarks and events indicate that the Tax Commissions position has changed. refused d The basic difference in the two methods is that inflation is d not a factor in the is the while it formula, major contributing factor in the d increase in values of DINOSAUR TIRE 200 E Main, the assessment of properties residents, small business, vacant land privately-owne- d uses comparative sales. locally-assesse- locally-assesse- assesses railroads budget for that year must be formulated and passed by Dec. 15 of the preceding year, and the approved budget must balance. This simply means that we must guess what our revenues will be a year in advance and budget our expenditures to balance with our estimated revenues. We can fairly accurately estimate many of our revenues by reviewing past year receipts. However, there are three major sources that are extremely difficult to estimate during the budgeting process. They are the property tax, sales tax and Payments in Lieu of Taxes from the federal government. The primary source of revenue for the county is the property tax. Because of the many unknown factors that must be considered in formulating the budget, it is one of the most difficult to estimate. The amount of revenues generated by the tax depends upon two factors: the assessed value of all properties in the county and the county mill levy. Using the 1983 fiscal year as an' example, despite the fact that we will not know what the county assessed value will be for 1983 until May of 1983, we IFF It has been several months since the Carbon County Council of Governments was revived with you designated as chairman. Is it achieving the pur- poses which for it was What has it acorganized? so far? complished The Carbon County Council of Governments was formed for several purposes, one being to provide a forum for discussion and study of area problems of mutual interest and concern to Carbon County and all other governmental units. I feel that this is extremely important to all units of local government, and if we can satisfy this one purpose, and I feel we are, then I would have to consider the COG a success. The council is functioning and meeting monthly. We have acted on the first round of Community Development Block Grants. Weve adopted a prioritization criteria for approving projects within the county, and most importantly, we are working on the con- solidated recreation thats been discussed project in the past. Due to the lack of project monies, local, state and federal, the council has not been as active as we would like. However, as I indicated, we are in place and ready to be active in that area when necessary. In September, you told the Utah Mining Association convention in Park City that the county has absorbed all the impact from energy development it can take and must consider limiting growth. Do you still feel that way? What could be done by government and industry to help the situation? While the recent layoffs in the coal industry will obviously temporarily slow growth in our and lessen the county I problems we anticipated feel that growth in the future is dishwasher 24-i- n. generally appropriation j 24 $ i name a few, the the state property policies of the state and an adversary governments and Chairman, Carbon County Commission To cost-effecti- the assessed value of our county from year to year, especially in d the properties. Based on computations Ive made analyzing these factors, revenues from property taxes alone could vary by as much as half a million dollars. County sales tax receipts seem to vary dramatically from year to year and are quite difficult to estimate. Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes come from an annual state-assesse- affecting ar change significantly unavoidable. Even without growth, we have reached our maximum capacity in several service areas, such as water, sewer, schools and others. Additionally, we have fallen behind in necessary road construction and road maintenance due to limited revenues. I recall my remarks to the Utah Mining Association suggested that without financial help from some source, the county must consider limiting growth. I still feel that way. The only options available to local government to increase infrastructure capacity is indebtedness, an option that is very unpopular with local elected officials and the taxpayer. The desirable solution to the problem is to have the impacting industry provide the necessary funds to mitigate identifiable problems they are creating. 19B2 Sun Progress Inc All rights reserved All property of Sun Progress Inc No part hereof may be reproduced wlthoutprtor written consent Sun Advocate USPS 5263-800- Published Every Wednesday and Friday by the Inc., 74 W, Main St., Price, Utah 84501. 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