Show b THE UTAH ECONOMY utah s local governments are faced with critical administrative and financial problems according to a report released this week by utah foundation the private nonprofit tax research organization in response to these problems the 1955 legislature created a local objectives of the commission are to define problems of local govern ment and to recommend methods of meeting pressing issues the final report will be submitted on or be fore september 15 1956 total annual local government expenditures in the nation have spir aled upward from 9 billion in 1946 to 21 billion in 1953 according to the the utah foundation j A report key factors in ST rising rising local government ent costs are war time neglect of needed maintenance and new construction inflation and population foundation analysts point out that several large cities have tried forms of city county consolidation to im lm prove efficiency and reduce costs in most instances some improve ment of administration and service has occurred but these various plans have not resulted in extensive tax savings the utah foundation study reveals that improvements in m utah s local government financial problems are hampered by the lack of adequate annual financial reports and uniform accounting practices the report states that utah I 1 is s following the national trend toward urbanization the result is ing pressures for local government services currently more than 65 of the state states s population is urban between 1940 and 1945 nearly 77 of the e new growth took place within and around urban centers more than 45 of utah s population growth between 1940 and 1950 1950 took place within the salt lake urb urbanized anizel area overlapping and duplicating ser vices among local governments particularly in metropolitan areas are a scourge of inefficiency foun dation analysts report that salt lake city taxpayers paid at least in 1954 toward county offering little or no benefit to city residents the foundation reports that while unnecessary expenditures are being made because of duplication and overlapping other local government services are inadequate in some areas area s for example the report POI points n ts out that salt lake city has recently been advanced in fire ansur ance rating but is still one grade lower than most U S cities of corn com parable size an additional advance in grade would save salt lake city taxpayers approximately per year in fire insurance premiums according to the report among other major problems fac ing local governments and discussed in the foundation report are issues concerning police and fire protection public health sewage and sanitation |