The results of a feasibility study concerning the probable future of Salt Lake County's unincorporated areas were announced and discussed Monday night at the County Council chambers.

The study looked at services currently provided by the county, as well as the possibility of townships and communities annexing into existing cities — and the likely taxes and property value assessments that would accompany those annexations.

Wikstrom Economic & Planning Consultants, which conducted the study, found many feasible ways for townships and communities to either annex into existing cities or remain unincorporated. The firm found 30 annexation possibilities. Examples included Copperton annexing into West Jordan or South Jordan, Granite annexing with Cottonwood Heights or Sandy, and Kearns annexing into Taylorsville or West Jordan.

The firm projected the ramifications of the various annexations, as well as the implications of remaining unincorporated until 2050, said Christine Richman, the consultant who presented the information. Many of the scenarios, with townships annexed into different cities, showed lowered sales tax rates per household and lower assessed values of households for homes within the townships as well as the cities into which they would be annexed.

Other types of taxes, however, would rise for those townships and their new cities.

Richman told the Deseret Morning News the consultants believe property taxes would rise in those cities accepting annexations. However, the 10 cities mentioned by Richman did not give the consulting firm projected property taxes because city officials said they have many different taxing options — if the townships and communities are annexed — and could not give accurate estimates, Richman said.

Richman also said the unincorporated communities have lower property values than the cities because of development patterns and minimal commercial development within those areas. Once annexed, however, the land values would increase and taxes would rise for those homes. She added that the cities, because of their higher property values, would be in a better position than the county to provide services for the unincorporated areas.

However, some community council members who attended the meeting did not agree with that summation.

"According to all the numbers, it looks best to stay unincorporated," said Paulina Flint, chairwoman of the White City Community Council.

She added: "I think we should go to metro counties," she said. "It's not fair to have different rates."

The presentation showed the cost of governmental services would differ for each of the communities depending on which city annexed them.

Salt Lake County, along with a committee involving community members, is developing a survey for the residents of the communities in order to understand what the residents want, said Stacee Adams, Salt Lake County spokeswoman. The committee will decide how many people to survey and what questions will be asked.

The full feasibility study can be seen at www.slc.org.

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E-mail: csmith@desnews.com