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Show ''aJi g VX VTtx eNr I (li) p ttc muit cirsssocT',r12va either fold a uay or rruLe one. -l- 31 OF TYPICAL INCOME GOES TO TAXES Study shows taxes are biggest item in budget for Utah families total 910,677. or 336 of the family's business, those whowork lor the business, and those who purchase iu serincome for 1998. la addition to three taxes, the Utah vices or products. The Utah familys income was family's tax burden is comprised of numerous employment taxes which 947.241, the avenge adjusted gram are paid by employers. For example. income for families filing jointly in Eugra's sod Eunices employers paid 1998. Vilen all direct and indirect taxes and insurance premiums of taxes are considered, the Utah's share 94,142 to provide coverage for them of the billions ofdullan paid by Utah under unemployment and workers' taxpayers to county, stale.and federal compensation, and the employer's governments amounts to 914,819 or share of social security. just over 31 of their income. As is true of mast families in Utah, la addition to employment taxes, businesses also pay hidden or 'indiEugene and Eunice must both hold e rect taxes on their business income, jobs in order to comfortably as well as many of tbs same taxes support their family. individuals pay, such as hie I. propEugene is an advertising agent at a local company and ia 1998 earned erty, and sales U x. Some people believe that employer 334.958. Eunice works as a real estate and busineeses taxes are not a part of agent earning 9 12J83 in 1997. Their their personal tax burden. However, total income ia 1998 was 947,241. in the final analysis, all taxes are paid This a 4.2 increase from the slate by people., the people who own the average in 1997. The Euftne and Eunice Utah fitm- ily it a family offlue designed to kelp illustrate the annual tax burden of a statistical Utah family. This statistical family he using data from the UJS. Census Bureau and several publications by the Utah State Tom Commission. In- come and ewsA 10VMi nntinntaken from both collected data. ally 21 ljr.nihil This is the story of Eugene Uuh and his family. Eupoi, Eunice, and their children Utawna, Ulysses, and famiUreala are like many lies in Utah. Their story is the story of taxes paid by citisens of our state. Eugene and Eunice are aware of the taxes they pay directly such as their personal income taws, eocial aecurity taxes, property m"bousel hold taxes sales taxes. Property Tax One of the direct taxes paid by the Utah family is the real property tax. The tax is based on a taxable value which is 55 of the assessed market value for residential property. The Utah family homo's market value in 1996 was 9131,700. This represents an increase of 6.4 over the homes value in 1997. This increase was due to reappraisal by the local county assessor. Various taxing entities are permitted to assess property taxes. School districts account for the greatest part of the Utah family's property tax bill. Taxes levied by counties, cities, and special districts complete their final property tax bilL Vehicle Tax The Utah family are among the tale's majority of workers who travel to and from their jobs in a private automobile They own two cars - a 1996 Ford Taunts and a 1991 Toyota fiiH-tim- g Corolla. Eugene drives about IW miles a year in the Taunts, which gels about 24 nulea to the gallon. Because of her work as a real estate agent, Eunice drives about 15.580 miles a year. The Corolla, however, gels 28 miles to eh gallon. SEE EUNICE FAMILY on page 3 Uintah Basin Are you in 50C compliance? Duchesne County witt be cracking dawn next month on businesses operating with- Tuesday May 25. 1999 out proper licenses, but be tore they do they will give violators an amnesty period. --See page 2 Rooseveft. Utah -- . ' - wmev ii'V ,t VoL 86. Number 21 www.ubstanOard.com wgjgwwp I1 ; .4 COMMENTS DUE JUNE 21 Changing of the guard W M.- - Wilderness study in 2000 wren up 'wpmii Memories Two World posed Management PlaaTina! E1S. It presents the BLMs final determinations. After the plan ia made available, a period of time is provided for the public to protest findings U the director oftbs BUI. Tbs Governor's One of iKt hotUat political topica Warll veterans recall their days in the service Uintah Ban Standard haMComplrtrd one while incarcerated as a twoofathrte part tries pmtnting the and proponent vittvpouUa prisoner of war, the other be- opponent ing "guided" through a series what etage the ofpossibly fatal situations. - jC See page 13 " ' Consistency Review also occurs du .This iaantkipatfdw, stage ingthiatims -- to bo completed by the summer or utkatcencnmedparttetmefuffertiiiriy 2000. do at thisjuncture. Following resolution of nay pro- tests and consistency concerns, the By Lorna Strodinger The Bureau ofLand Management has juft completed n series of statewide wiiderneas public open houses called the scoping phase; the firs! stageofapUnning project dmignedto provide opportunities for public Involvement regarding the mnventory of public lands for consideration as new WUderneasStudy Anas (WSAaL. During this phase, the public can participate ia issue identification by submitting their coocerna to the BLM. This phaae includes public input, identification of issues, and development of alternatives. The Wilderness Study Arw PlanCome on in, ning Project will pregieaa through several stages over the next couple of water's fine! yean according to tbs BLM. ia comAfter the scoping phase The Roosevelt Swim Pool pleted. the next stage is the preparaManagement Plan E1S has a new boiler, so the typi- tion of a DraftBLbTs that preliminary findpresents cal chilly. early season water environmental of consequences ings temperatures ere going to be teeuhingfraa the alternatives Acom-memuch more inviting when the period on the draft will allow pool opens Saturday. the public opportunity to provide feedto be Seepage 12 back. This phase is designed of 1999. winter tha by pleted iwwy mfrvpa yyrnimwmjprmm Tha third stage ia called tha Pro-i,lf ' 1i - the nt d ELM State Director signs the Plaaflecord of DroakxL The the fall of 2000. At thisjuncture. Congress may act to designate these areas as part of tha national Wihhi now rrv arrest ion Syi tern. Thaw lands will no longer available for multiple use. The BLM began this planning pro-caMooapnroximately2.6miIhon acres of public land throughout Utah. The planning process may result in saiab- st of new WSAs under the ofThe Federal Land Policy and ManagementAcicfl978. Them would bo in addition to the S3 million news of existing WSAs that wertpreviously established by BLM ia the early 1980's. For more than 20 years, debate has continued over whether additional WSAs should haeo been designated w part ofthe original inventory. In order to bring resolution to this onpxng controversy. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt directed reinvenlory of the lands ia question. This was completed in 1999 and identified 2.6 million WIND WH1PPED-- A SO foot by 200 foot cinder block storage shed in Ida was no match for a ferocious wind storm that struck the area around 3 p m. Sunday, May 23. This is all that is left of the cattle shed on the Lee and Louise Nelson property. Weve lived here for 50 sears and Ive never seen anything like it The wind and rain were coming from every direction. explained Louise. The worst part of the storm lasted about 5 minutes. The shed's wood and tin roofwas blown off and is resting across in irrigation ditch. ity SEE WILDERNESS on page 3 TAXES COULD INCREASE SUBSTANTIALLY Loss of property tax base to pack a wallop for county ' jfcfui Proposed phosphate plant, railroad plan revealed erata By Mary Wert i railroad spur Efforts to build connecting the Uintah Basin to main railroad tracka in Colorado and develop a phosphate products manufacturing plant in Uintah County are being pursued by business ana economic development representatives. Representatives of Western Chemical and Mineral Corporation, a subsidiary ofUniversal Chemical, requested that Uintah County sutho-risinbegin the process of g the imuance of Industrial Revenue and Solid Waste Disposal bonds for a phosphate manufacturing plant. This would enable the corporation to capitalise Uw proposed phosphate products manufacturing plant. The commissioners have not made a decision oa the request. Its very promising. said Commissioner Lloyd Swain. "We have aoroe hurdles lojump.but its looking good The Uintah Basin is rich ia phates, but tha resource ia largely untapped due to lack of development and transportation infrastructure. The mining operation would eneom-pas- s more than 6,010 acres soul beast oTVemai on the Tqy kw Mountain road. fm phosphate, but lacks transportation and development necessary to capitalize on the mineral. Acoalition of local government, state economic development representatives, and chemical and mineral corporations has been meeting for eyear on the Phosphate Complex project. Financing for the project, which ia estimated at a dollars, ia being sought through a few sources loan from tha inchidinga half-billio- st Federal Railroad Administrative Board through the Transportation Equity Act for the 2 1st erntury . Funding from this source would be contingent on the amount of freight hauled from the proposed rail track. "Federal railroad fond may be available for financing projects like this. said Rues Fotbeeincham, state of Utah Community and Economic Development. We were told that in order tojustify a railroad, we'd need 3 million tons of committed freight per year. I think we'd have twice that Poor Copy f ! HALF A BILLION DOLLAR PROJECT However, fiiadmg for the phosphate manufacturing plant needs to be realised as welL The cost of developing the manufacturing plant is estimated at 9133 million. A press release from the chemical corporation says, Uintah County would provide the vehicle for issuance of the bonds, but neither tbs county nor the taxpayers art responsible for repayment. The revenueofthe manufacturing plantis) is the source of repayment. Mining royalties would be deposited into the Utah School Tins! fond. An environmental assessment, and feasibility study is required to be researched and developed before tbs project could commence. Preliminary studies aijjwt that jobs ia the Basin could increase byy close to 700 if the project is success-follcompleted. Average jobs would betwrea 910 and 9 15 an hour. pay The Uintnh Basin haa isuffered, although it is the richest resource area ia Utah. aaid Foibennghaa. And Utah is the richest resource sUte in the United States. The Uintah Pasin base terrible time taking advantage SEE RAILROAD on fagvj i Mrvisvn U-- By Larlea E. Whiting Duchrene County property owners could be staring much larger tax bill in the face come this November. The lose of an estimated 9428.000 to the county and school district from the airline flyover tax can now be added to declines in aaseasmenu the State Tax Commission has placed on oil and gas property in the county. Right now, figures compiled by the Utah Legislative Research and General Counselshow that the owner of a 9150,000 home in Duchesne County can expect to pay between 9130 to 9170 more in taxes this year. A portion of the anticipated lax increase is due tea recent court derision which took away the county's airline tax revenue the State Supreme Court ruled the tax formula must be based from airon landings and take-off-s ports. not to flying ever counties. An even bigger blow is the result of the ml and gas decline. By law, taxing entities have the right to receive the same amount of revenue they did the previous year, unless they opt to make budget cuts So when a taxing entity, such aa the county or school district, find themselves facing a budget shortfall amounting to hundreds of thousands of doliam the tax buntru ia shifted from state aw rosed companies and Utilities to local taxpayer. Bryant Howe. research analyst for the OfTkecfLegialattvs Research and General Counsel, mvs that there are still many unknown factors that will have to be applied to the tax equal ion for Ducbesae County. However. M is known the county haa lost 42 million in aweaeed prope rtv valuations due to tha airline ruling thxhseas County could also suffer the blow of an estimated 35 percent drop in ml and gas valuations when the State Tax Com- - The only advice local officials are getting when it comes to enormous shortfalls in tax menues is to "pass it on to local taxpayers. " us, its extremely hard to do. mission flniahrs up their calculations, he bsmL While you can bet elected officials don't want to raise taxes, the) may not have many other options to consider. Duchesne County will he impacted from the kwa of the airline tax to the tune off 128, 000 and a awaiting word on how the decline in oil prices last $$$ Tax Increase on $150,000 Home EXk Is i mU fvdurWM For a county like particularly the school district, are looking at auhstantial revenue shortfalls that will bare to be mads up bifocal taxpqyrra.ua Was enormous bud get rata are implemented. The county runs their budprt on the calendar year and has lime to make adjustments. The srhnol district, which operates on a (focal year budget that begins July 1. isn't as lucky. School board members will begin tackling their 1999 2WQ fiscal year budget when they meet June 10 in Duchesne. District Superintendent. John Aland, soy the stale's uniform acho-- d Ml Chi tad Gas FVspvny fond allows impacted districts to Yah. IWOTmvvw rocoupsome ofthe money U( through declining tax revenue by contributing to their maintenance and operation foods However, theres no such support available for the district's "capital or building fond, nor to special transportation and recreation budgets. That pore tag estimated at close to 9193.000 in lust airline revenue tax alone. The school district, like the countv. iaawai ting word on exactly how much more money thry will be losing due to and early this year will forther lower od and gas valuations. Jrar their tax rwenue.taid Duchesne And tax relief doesn't appear imCounty Communion Chairman Larry minent. Mid Aland Although ml and gaa values areexprrted to pick up. t he Values for oil and gas property are airline tax revenue is rme forever m d being art by the Tax Comnumoa. legislative remedy wout ofthe que w hir h snB take in to account depressed tioa since the tax was declared unconml poors last year and at the beginstitutional. ning of this year. Although oil pncee "Tbeonh counsel we are getting is re nsing. that wont be reflected in pass it on'," said Aland "Forarouoty revenue until next year, like us that ia extremely hard to do. property-tala the 'meantime, the county, and x wwy - |