FARMINGTON — Davis County commissioners, faced with demands of an expanded jail, an aging population and deteriorating flood channels, may opt to raise property taxes by 5.2 percent for 2007.

Steve Rawlings, Davis County Clerk/Auditor, recommended the property-tax increase to the Davis County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

The Davis County Jail expansion, which will be completed this year, will need to be staffed and will have greater operating expenses.

The directors of the county's health department and public works said they do not now have the resources to deal with potential floods. Public works will need about $1.3 million a year, and the health department will likely need a similar amount.

Rawlings is proposing a property-tax increase that would increase the tax bill on a $167,000 home by about $50 a year. The current property tax bill for the average resident is $1,150, Rawlings said.

Tom Smith, public-works director, and Lewis Garrett, the health-department director, see few alternatives to a tax increase.

Smith's employees have identified various sinkholes across the county. One of the worst is next to 2600 South in Bountiful, where a corrugated-steel pipe that carries storm water to the Great Salt Lake is being eaten away by gravel and rocks bouncing through the pipe — called scouring.

Davis County shored up its flood-control system following the heavy storm years of 1983 and 1984, when record storms turned streets into rivers. But the pipes and canals are in trouble, Smith said. Each of the 19 drain systems in the county needs multiple debris catch basins, and many pipes need liners to eliminate underground erosion.

"I think the commission is a little gun shy (about tax increases)," Smith said. "Somebody's got to bite the bullet."

In 2002, the commission proposed more than doubling the county portion of property tax, an idea that was met with vehement public opposition. The commission instead opted for a smaller tax increase.

Meanwhile, Davis County's population is aging.

"We're going to see an exponential increase in people ages 65 and older and 85 and older," Garrett said.

An aging population is going to put a strain on the services his department provides — services like Meals on Wheels, activities in the county's three senior centers and the upkeep of those centers. Some of the services are minor, like doing laundry for seniors who can't manage it, but for the most part can take care of themselves.

But even a tax increase won't be enough, he said. Aging Services will need to call on volunteers and will need to partner with the 15 cities in the county to find ways to provide services in the future.