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Show r r.a - J r. " (It . j Jii P ES I Vi '. I I iu SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Interior Department Files Suit Just Before Deadline The Interior Department shortly before the legal deadline filed a notice that it intends to appeal a decision which gave Utah title to 157,000 acres of valuable oil shale land. An spokesman for the Interior reported this week, the notice was filed with the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The department had to file the notice within 60 days of the time U.S. District Court Judge Willis W. Ritter in Salt Lake City signed an order giving Utah the land. The order was issued on May 25, but Judge Ritter didnt actually sign the document until June 9. The federal land includes two oil shale tracts, in eastern Utah, leased to developers in 1974 for a prototype oil shale extraction project. Just for the right to lease the tracts, the developers bid over $120 ' million. . Utah stands to gain well over tha amount if it wins title to the land. The total figure will include bonus bids, lease money and royalties. Utah will still have the right to 37.5 percent of the money if the federal government wins. Placed in a special . escrow account upon Ritters order are payments on bids and lease rentals, and the money will be turned over to the suits ultimate winner. With City-Coun- ty self-sustainin- g. Better Management Heavy Taxes1 matter of double taxation, com- mented Springmeyer. The price we pay for poor management is now apparent it is a large, d increase in the mill levy that will inevitably result in serious inequities. . . 01-11- 0 Cities Pay-Uor Lose Services, County Demands p, The deadline should be for South Jordan, West and Jordan and Riverton to pay-u- p a or lose new agreements negotiate host of services from Salt Lake County. That recommendation went to ' commissioners this week as County Attorney Paul Van Dam finished j his study of service agreements with the valleys smaller cities and another side of the towns double taxation coin." Street lighting and fire protection in West Jordan; garbage collection, street maintenance and help with fire protection for Riverton and a list of municipal services ranging from police and fire protection to street maintenance and planning for South Jordan are all at stake. Mr. Van Dam urged the governy limit ing body to set a which communities the during would pay their bills and negotiate new contracts if they want services continued. Mr. Van Dam declared, Since the (state's) interlocal cooperation provides that local governments may cooperate on the basis of mutual advantage, it is our rec- that all agreements should provide, at a minimum, compensation for the county equal to the cost of services provided. That would mean provisions for analyzing costs and reviewing as conditions change, mid-Octob- er R. Paul Van Dam 60-da- However, Mr. Van Dam stressed that the agreements are just legal contracts because they don't meet provisions of the interlocal agree- ment act calling for approval by the attorney general, filings and corn-aniittees from all jurisdictions to ct oversee individual activities. Mr. Van Dam said besides or balanced fleeting a new budget approach, agreements must be kept current, Neither auditors nor attorneys will say just how much money is being lost by the county in mg the services. pay-as-you-- go provid-agreemen- ts " TODAYS across-the-boar- Utah Wages Still Lowest Per Capita Utah's capita personal per EDITORIAL v in- come has increased since 1970, but it is still among the lowest in the nation, an economic report says. Ralph Y. McClure and counties wflTmeet in the health department offices this week to begin the unification. The mayors of smaller cities admitted they were constantly losing personnel because of the salaries being paid by the county and the larger cities, but felt they could not raise taxes enough to pay comparable salaries. A forum would be helpful however, especially in keeping the elected officials abreast of the salaries and benefits being paid by the county and all other cities, the mayors indicated. Public employe unions have indicated a goal of enrolling the employes of the small cities, according to Commissioner McClure. it FRIDAY, AUGUST 13. 1976 Bob Springmeyer said this week partial payment on the bids, the that with better management the account has over $76.5 million in it Commission' could have County so far. avoided the heavy and inequitable Part of the land, 157,000 acres, increase in property taxes for the which Utah says the federal gov- new special service districts. ernment has owed it ever since it Springmeyer, Democratic candibecame a state in 1896. The gov- date for the four-yea- r Salt Lake ernment at that time awarded new County Commission post, said that states four sections of land from the County knew five years ago each federally owned township, to that it might be required to change its tax structure. That was when help support the states schools. state legislature enacted a law the Some of the state sections howunincorporated areas to ever, were on military bases, Indi- requiring be charged for special services such an property, parks and other feder- as collection and planning al possessions and could not be andgarbage zoning. turned over. Utah had the right to following the acImmediately select other land, and chose the oil tion of the the County legislature shale land for most of 200,000 acres Commission should have initiated a it is still owed. study to determine exactly who Utah filed suit to clear title to the pays what amount in county taxes, shale land, and the Interior Depart- and just what areas receive various ment argued the state could not county services, Springmeyer select land that' was much more said. Even now, the county still does valuable than the acres lost. Ritter ruled in favor of the state, saying it not have accurate information on the source of its tax dollars and on had right to free selection. the impact of its services, SpringThe notice of appeal filed the meyer stated. Without such infirst part of August does not formation, the County Commission necessarily mean the Interior De- now says it has no other choice than to increase the mill levy for partment actually will appeal. If the notice had not been biled every resident of an unincorporated by Aug. 9, the case would have area. been closed, and the land would There is simply no excuse for have finally been Utahs. not planning ahead to solve the County Council Approves Planning, Zoning Program The Salt Lake County Council of Governments this week approved implementation of a comprehensive planning and zoning program for the Salt Lake area. .The council also approved studies for the implementation of a unified animal control effort and coordination of efforts between the county and the cities regarding employe salaries and benefits. All three were introduced by Chairman Commission County animal the with McClure Ralph control and planning receiving strong support from the mayors of the cities. The meeting was held in the South Salt Lake City Hall. The mayors of two cities, William L. Levitt, Alta, and Midvale mayor, Boyd N. Twiggs, pointed out coordination is needed because zoning actions of any city affect others and the county. Also the technical staffs of Salt Lake City and County would be helpful to the smaller cities. Helping to push through the animal control resolution is the recent outbreak of rabies. Health Salt Lake Dr. Harry Department director, said five Gibbons, persons along the Wasatch Front are undergoing treatment for rabies, and a merge would help provide a fulltime veterinarian. Dr. Gibbons said the county service is almost Representatives from all cities - P 11 A v i 1327 CITY ly A A i I Si The Utah Economic and Business Review, published by the University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Business Research, in the review it lists Utahs per capita personal income in 1974 as $4,468, a 38.5 percent increase over 1970. The 1974 ' per capita personal income for the United States, was $5,448, the report stated. Besides being below the national figure, Utah was outdistanced by 41 states in per capita personal income. Only eight states had lower per capita personal income than Utah. The report explained, personal income is the total income which comes to a household from salaries, wages, rents, interests and net proprietary income. Salt Lake and Morgan counties came the closest to the 1974 national average. Salt Lake's was 165,081. Morgan had a $4,966 per capita personal income. Nine Utah counties were listed in the report as experiencing a drop in per capita personal income from 1973 to 1974. Financing of Wildlife The next time the neighborhood picks and on and favorite his starts the ax you grinding up rest of America's hunters, perhaps you can dull his finish a little by laying a few facts on him. Facts usually dont sound like violins or pulsating heartbeats, but they do help paint accurate pictures. Like almost every other expense today, the cost of maintaining and managing our wildlife resources is increasing. The level of professionalism and competency, however, has also risen dramatically in the last two decades, along with the costs. Sportsmen have been almost totally responsible for the monies needed to support management and research. Ask yourself, If the sportsmen don't pay for conservation activities, who will? g Some proponents maintain the position that wildlife conservation could be supported by appropriations from general funds. And a look at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service $234 million budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 1976 might seem to give anti-hunt- on-goi- ng anti-huntin- (continued on page 2) er |