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Show 5 S-' Coumty hibzny Faces 1 Additional Cutbacks As Public Use Spirals By TOM BUSSELBERG FARMINGTON - It may still be a tight year as far as getting those Davis County Library shelves filled, this year, thanks to ongoing budget restraints. THAT'S THE probable outcome out-come of a library board mandate man-date increasing the library mill levy from 2.1 to 2.2 mills, meaning cutting upwards of $35,000 from the proposed $1,013,000 budget, coming probably from the increased book budget-hiked by $25,000 in part to make up for previous cutbacks, and $10,500 for stairway and restroom repairs and renovations at the South Branch in Bountiful. The 2.1 mill was hammered out as a compromise, primarily preferred after Board Member; Robert Arbuckle questioned a! budget increase of about 12 percent in continued tax hikes : elsewhere, all eating at peo- pie's pocketbooks. THANKS TO a bigger than expected "carry over" of up to $45,000 vs. the expected $10,000, the budget won't have to suffer any other major cuts, Library Director Jeanne Layton pointed out, with County Com. Chairman Glen Saunders indicating the taxpayer tax-payer payup rate on their property prop-erty taxes is projected at more than 95 percent, this year, up by about three percent over previous years. That's largely because of the five year limit before property can be auctioned au-ctioned off at Sheriffs sale, he explained. Ms. Layton strongly argued the library's continued growth-at 30 percent over last year and double the rate of three years ago, calls for expenditures ex-penditures to more closely reflect re-flect investment in facilities that currently see less than adequate book collections, especially in the South Branch where they're particularly acute in children's books, an oft-repeated concern over the past year. IN SPITE OF that growth, Com. Saunders emphasized the county has a 16-mill limit imposed by law, currently set at about 13. He pointed to problems in Weber County, where a "zero" increase is mandated because that county has reached the statutory limit. "I'd hate to say our county, or library or general fund get to where there's no leeway to deal with it, other than the actual assessed valuation (growth)," he told the board. Although a tentative budget was approved in the October meeting, Ms. Layton noted some changes in the insurance benefits package to be available avail-able to employees along with the difference in carry-over funds reflected in slightly increased in-creased tax revenues over projections. WHEN MR. Arbuckle argued "some fat" could be trimmed from the budget, Ms. Layton noted an increase of only a couple employees within with-in the past several years in spite of the massive increase, reflected in 70,000 cardholders. cardhol-ders. And while Mr. Arbuckle said "government keeps bursting bur-sting the budget," Com. Saunders Saun-ders noted an increased emphasis emph-asis on distilling services back to the more local levels-county levels-county and city governments. And while he indicated favor for such moves he said the legislature leg-islature hasn't appropriated revenue to handle those increases, in-creases, such as in the jail, an area currently under study and having received a facelift and addition only about two years ago. THE COUNTY commission has set a public hearing to ratify the county budgets.inc-luding budgets.inc-luding the library's for Dec. 14. |