Davis budget quietly passes

FARMINGTON — With little fanfare, no opposition and few public comments, Davis County commissioners approved a $70 million operating budget for next year.

This week's budget public hearing was decidedly different from last year's in which at least 1,000 county residents showed up to protest a proposed 138 percent tax increase in the county's share of property taxes.

No tax increase was proposed or passed for next year, and commissioners ultimately approved a 24 percent tax increase for this year.

Some two dozen residents showed up for the hearing Tuesday night and nine spoke on widely ranging topics from inadequate freeway offramps at the Layton Hills Mall to the need for better heating and air conditioning at the Davis County Jail.

Several of the residents spoke about the jail, but none opposed the construction of a proposed jail addition.

Commission Chairman Dannie McConkie, who tried to keep the discussion centered on the budget, told the crowd at the courthouse he expects the public will receive some hard data on the need for a new jail in the next couple of months.

Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings led the crowd through the high points of the 2004 budget, saying it is up $5.9 million from this year's budget mainly because of a one-time sale of surplus county real estate for $3.6 million.

The sale of property helps shore up the fund balances in the general fund and the tourism conference center fund as well as allows for some one-time needed capital expenditures, Rawlings said.

The major capital expenditure will be an update of the wiring in the old courthouse and the installation of a large diesel generator for backup power, he said.

"Utilizing part of the revenue related to the sale of the properties to increase the general fund balance helps to achieve the goal set by commission resolution to have the general fund balance equal to 10 percent of general fundrevenues by the end of the year 2004," he said.

The $5.9 million in new money will be used to replace 21 of the 49 full-time equivalent positions lost in 2003 at a cost of $900,000; a cost of living and merit increase for county workers, $1.3 million; purchase of vehicles, capital improvements and operating expenditures at $1.8 million; and technology improvements, $1.9 million.

Rawlings pointed out that Davis County's tax rate is higher than Tooele County's but lower than the rates in Salt Lake and Weber counties.

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