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Show County Studying Next Move In Restaurant Fee Case By TOM BUSSELBERG North County Editor FARMINGTON - Future fee possibilities, possibili-ties, if any, by the health department or other county agencies are under study by the county attorney's office pending receipt of the judge's final papers in the restaurant fee case. THAT CASE, pitting the county health department vs. the Utah Restaurant Assoc., that found in favor of the URA, currently invalidates a fee imposed by the board of health on restaurants allegedly to help desray costs of such annual inspections. inspec-tions. Asst. County Attorney Gerald Hess said in a telephone interview, "We are a little hesitant to make any recommendations at this time until the findings of fact and conclusions con-clusions have been made" by 2nd District Court Judge Douglas Cornaby followed by a 30 day response period. "THEN IF we decide to lodge an appeal, we can do so," he said adding, "even though it may sound like a broken record, we're waiting to be able to review it." The judge's ruling questioned "adequacy of procedures followed by the board of health for establishing a fee schedule" noting not-ing that the law calls for records or summaries summar-ies of hearing proceedings should be taken. IT WENT on to say that "whether or not the board has the authority to impose charges such as those specified under the 'Food Services Establishment Permit Fee Schedule,' this court does not believe the health board has the authority to pass a law assessing a fee or a tax." And while state law says the board has power to "establish and collect fees..." the ruling goes on to say "The court believes this refers to such things as preparing certificates certi-ficates and copying fees, etc. This court has applied the above to both a fee and tax. "THE BOARD of health passed a regulation regula-tion to raise a tax even though they designated desig-nated it a fee. The money was to go into the general fund of the county. The regulation did provide th the money would offset the costs of the inspections. Still, the money raised went ino the general fund and was not (put) into reducing the costs of inspection of restaurants. "Taxation is a legislative function. The legislature could not delegate this taxing function to local boards of health," with the ruling emphasizing it's not saying there's "no governmental body with authority to assess a fee schedule, we're saying the health board is not such a body. "THE GOVERNMENTAL body that does pass such a law must word it so that it falls within the category of a fee and not a tax. This means the money raised must be used directly for the costs of inspections and must not exceed the reasonable cost of the services for which it was imposed." Meanwhile, Hersh Ipaktchian, chairman of the URA and a Layton restaurant owner and resident, emphasized the citizenry doesn't want extra taxation but says politicians politi-cians are trying to "indirectly tax the people" peo-ple" through such avenues as the restaurant inspection fee. "EVERY TIME a business has to pay a user fee, they (have to) raise a product price, so the people pay anyway," he continued, con-tinued, noting people are asking for cuts to keep costs down. He cited a previously-used example by URA officials that the restaurant fee could lead to extra fees for those having to use fire or police protection, for example. "We realize real-ize there is inflation and that costs are up, but if our politicians seriously cut all they can, they need to go back to the general fund (for revenue) rather than charge fees." RECALLING that business bankruptcies nationally broke an all-time record, within the past few weeks, Mr. Ipaktchian said, "they just can't put any more pressure on." He emphasized chances for joint efforts to solve problems between the health board and restauranteurs, for example, and asked what chances there'd be for appointing some members of the business community to the board or forming a separate advisory board comprised of members other than the "heavily-weighted" medical staff on the board of health. "LET'S HAVE them ask the URA to appoint one-two people to work with them (health board) on an advisory capacity," Mr. Ipaktchian said. "Don't just lower the boom-let's have open communication." He said his first word on the restaurant fee proposal was through the newspapers. A check with the health department shows only three of the nine board members are medically-related while another works with volunteers at one of the county's hospitals. |