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Show The National Emerprise, July 27, 1977 Page twenty-fiv- e Pragmatic Dogmatics The Bonneville City ploy by Kent Shearer On July 18, the Salt Lake County Commission accepted an incorporation petition which would create a municipal government for all presently unincorporated county areas. An election on it has been scheduled to coincide with the Sept. 12, 1978 primary. If accepted, created would be Bonneville City. With a 225,000 plus population, Bonneville would be Utahs largest. Well and good, if, but only if, the who were solicited by current incorporators are sincere. Every evidence county officials is they are not so intentioned. Rather, Bonneville City is not so much a concept as a ploy hatched by county attorney Paul Van Dam. The scheme is a last ditch attempt by county office holders to buy further time in their effort to preserve their political empires and to justify their highly paid jobs. A bit of background may aid understanding. For many years. Salt Lake County proservices to citizens of its vided municipal-typ- e unincorporated sectors. These include fire protection, wraste and garbage collection and disposal, planning and zoning, and street lighting. The catch was that residents of cities, like Murray and Midvale, were taxed to help pay for those services received in unincorporated communities, like Magna and Granger. Many enjoy being helped by others to pay for what they, and not the others, get. So, until recently, unincorporated areas have resisted incorporation. A mid-60Magna incorporation initiative went down to ignominious defeat. In 1971, former Governor Calvin L. Rampton determined that it was time to end the unfair taxation of city residents. He called a special legislative session to consider the matter. The lawmakers responded with Title 17, Chapter 34, Utah Code. This law permitted the continuation of county services outside cities, but mandated that payment for them be either by taxes on unincorporated lands, by user fees, or by a combination of both. The county ignored the law, and Salt Lake In 1976, the Utah City took it to court. Court held that the law was conSupreme stitutional and meant what it said. In the course of its unanimous ruling, the court observed, "To hold that the county may 's I provide services without attempting to collect money to defray the cost would serve as an unjust burden upon the city residents and be contrary to the clear statutory language." Unable any longer to ignore the law, but unwilling to obey it, county officials attempted to change it. Various evasions were thrust at the 1977 Legislature, but were rejected. Meanwhile, back at the farm, unincorporated communities reason for their k considered municipal unincorporation gone status. Petitions circulated in Draper and in tax-brea- Granger-Hunte- r. It is in this context that county officials promoted the Bonneville City petition. If valid, it will postpone any other incorporation until after the 1978 Legislature's special session. That body, the county gang hopes, will intercede on its behalf. And delay is the only reason. When threatened by Draper with a suit, a deputy county attorney rejoined that, "Wed welcome that," and added court action would increase delays. On the public record, then, the Bonneville City ploy is a sham. The judiciary' should see it as such, and declare the Bonneville petition void. i AioiuiJO' imie epsscHM 0SA6MA- $ Ma)T. rn( tu oiimwiw. mwicM issue a OAeo)-a- AMP a r Ip about mvmw nuff by Benjamin Shore Copley News Service hxmcAt, QXVHMST, When Jimmy Carter began moving around the country two years ago stimulating public support for a presidential bid, he discovered favorable reaction to promises punctuated with a softly voiced you can trust me" or "you can count on it." Mr. Carters polling revealed that as the months rolled along through the primary elections and then victory in November, the element of public faith in his promises was a major factor in his unusual success. So it has been with a certain degree of compulsion that Mr. Carter has driven his staff and Cabinet to fulfill those campaign promises and many of the others that flowed from his transition and inaugural period. Mr. Carter, however, has discovered that even the most well intentioned promises are often difficult to deliver once the Oval Office has been occupied. The public apparently likes his dogged commitment to human rights in foreign policy, yet he has been surprised by the Soviet reaction that threatens to stall arms limitation talks. Mr. Carter said during the campaign that the l bomber was not a wise defense investment, and he eventually made good that view by ordering a halt in production. But he reportedly was almost swayed by arguments in favor of the l based on defense intelligence data acquired by him only upon becoming President. Mr. Carter, as candidate, railed against the "bloated" White House staff employed by President Nixon, and then In President Ford. Vet the new President's staff quickly grew to be larger. Mr. Carter, said to be angered by this threat to his public credible.! v. ordered a reorganization of ti e White Home m B-- B-- . ,.1 i ; Milcf a rr. Promises return to haunt Carter Shore 0UTIAHA ' : ' " However, most of the "reduction" will be accomplished by the Carter administration just as previous administrations have approached such matters: transfer employees to other federal agencies. (The new President promised that no one would be kicked off the federal payroll.) On Feb. 20. he promised Congress he would send it a e energy plan within 90 days. Depsite the pleas of aides, including energy chief James Schlesingcr, that such a plan could not be prepared that quickly, Mr. Carter insisted that his credibility was more important. The plan that went to Capitol Hill exactly 90 days later w as, Schlesinger said later, "quick and dirty," which means it has Haws that would make it easier to pick apart in the political long-rang- arena. With the first six months of his administration completed, with his public approval high and his confidence in his own judgments deepening, Mr. Carter now appears less rigid about promises once uttered. The best example of that is his administrations delay in proposing a policy for dealing with the growing flood of illegal aliens entering the country. Mr. Carter ordered his Cabinet to work on it, and w e were told a policy would be unveiled in about six weeks. That target deadline came and went two months ago. The word from the White House is that, unlike the energy plan, the illegal alien policy is being sent back to the drawing boards repeatedly as fresh information and new points of icw are introduced. Mr. carter apparently is more interested in producing a well though; out plan than in meeting an arbitrary dendknc solely lor the sake (f its imagined impact on b.U public image as n person whovc word g set. Setter rcdtica (r.vd govcTT.rmem i:c ering. i , : i |