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Show CUP "Ripping Off County Commissioners Complain Garfield County Commissioners will hold a public hearing Monday at 7 p.m. in the courthouse in Panguitch to seek support for their effort to get Garfield County out of its membership in the Central Utah Water Conservancy District. Commissioners claim that the county is being "ripped off" by its membership in the District and has paid more than $106,000 in taxes over the past 13 years for nothing in return. Those taxes, commissioners pointed out have increased almost seven times over the past 13 years. Garfield County is at the head of the system and has derived no benefit at all from membership yet has almost consistently had the highest mill levy of any county participating. Benefits all appear to end up downstream, Commissioner George Middleton indicated. Only those portions of the county which drain into the Sevier River basin are included in the district but commissioners noted that full support of citizens, town board members and mayors is needed in order to get the pull-out project off the ground. The county officials anticipated resistance from the district because the southern Utah are originally sought membership when the district was formed in 1967. One southern Utah project which was supposed to benefit the area from the project the Hatch dam never materialized. |