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Show (Funds biggest challenge, says Chairman Beck I The biggest challenge facing the Utah County Commission this year will be to finance county govern-'ment govern-'ment efficiently enough that taxes j won't have to be raised, according to 'Malcolm H. Beck, newly appointed commission chairman. "We will continue progress made in the past year in organization in (order to continue to make govern- Jment more efficient without raising Itaxes," Beck said Monday during a i telephone interview. j "We have to work to make sure government is efficient without an increase in taxes. People are paying all the taxes they can now," he said. . 1 Beck said the commission cut over ! $1 million from the budget in the past year. j "We will continue to modernize jwith that intent. We plan to hold the iline on taxes. The county has to live ion what is available and not look at programs that will mean an increase in-crease in taxes. "We need to make sure we are getting our money's worth and make government more efficient," he said. Some of the main issues the county will have to deal with, he said, will come out of the legislature. These will include changes in assessing and collecting taxes; resolutions regarding whose responsibility it is to maintain jail facilities; and changes in the court system. "The legislature will be making changes that will affect all of us," Beck said. He anticipates there will be changes made in the area of fire protection agreements between the county and the cities where Provo and Orem are currently saying they want a different contract. "We will have to make adjustments ad-justments and solve those problems," Beck said. Also needing to be resolved are issues including whether to implement im-plement the enhanced Emergency 911 system, and problems caused by flooding in 1983 and 84. "These problems are still here, we haven't resolved them," he said. The county will have to present its case at the legislature to get state-appropriated state-appropriated money to pay to correct the problems at Thistle, Beck said. "What we do depends on if the legislature will take responsibilty for paying for the damage that has been done up there." The county will also be working to remove the dike that was put along Utah Lake near Spanish Fork during the floods. "We are working to get those taken care of," he said, adding survey crews have been working at the dike to decide the best place for it. "We will begin removing the dike in the near future," he said. |