"We need to have more people weighing in on it," Niederhauser said.

The election would be scheduled in November because more people turn out to vote than in the June elections.

Taxing entities could end up with the difficult job of selling a high-percentage tax increase to their voters.

In Jordan Valley Water's case, it might not have been too bad, Bay says.

That tax increase meant the average home in the district pays about $13.90 more a year in property taxes.

"Maybe that's why it hasn't attracted as much interest in the past," Bay says.

Davis County likely would have had a much harder sell, because the bite on the average home is about $60 per year.

Because taxing entities might not want to be faced with the job of selling a large tax increase, Niederhauser's bill would encourage them to make incremental tax increases on a regular basis.

But those large tax increases could still come, Bay says, especially for growing entities like Jordan Valley Water.

Entities that deal mostly with normal operations, maintenance, utility and personnel costs wouldn't see the huge increase in costs that comes with constantly building new infrastructure.

Construction costs, as well as those for concrete and steel, are rising faster than the Consumer Price Index, which is a traditional measure of inflation, Bay says.

If the bill passes, it could mean infrastructure-heavy entities, such as Jordan Valley Water, could be forced into having more elections than others.

On the other hand, Bay says, for entities that regularly bond for projects using today's dollars, regular tax increases that provide stable revenue allow the financing community to have higher confidence in an entity's bonds.

---

E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com