S. Davis mayors seeking a tax for recreation

BOUNTIFUL — Mayor Joe Johnson and five other south Davis County mayors have asked the County Commission to put a recreation, arts and parks (RAP) tax proposal on the November ballot.

The mayors are proposing to ask voters to raise sales tax by a 10th of a percent for specific projects in their cities.

In a letter delivered last week to the County Commission, Clearfield Mayor Thomas Waggoner said seven mayors plus a city councilman representing Layton's mayor agreed unanimously to ask that the RAP tax be put on the ballot.

Johnson said he and the other mayors believe the county has spent money raised by the countywide tourism tax for the benefit of the northern cities and have ignored those in the south.

"We have felt this way for a long time," he said. "We are concerned the RAP tax will come up as just another tax thrown into a bucket that nobody has any control over. We don't see any benefit from the tourism tax."

"It's absolutely not true we've favored the north end of the county," County Commission Chairman Dannie McConkie said. "We've given Mayor Johnson all kinds of data and information on what we've done in the south. We've published all kinds of ads that have promoted his hotels and restaurants over the years. I keep reminding him that tourism dollars are county money. They're county imposed, county raised and county collected, and the county has the jurisdiction to put the money where our judgment says it ought to go."

McConkie said he's committed to supporting the mayors, "if they come up with a good plan to tell the people what they will get with a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax increase."

The Bountiful mayor said the cities will promote the value of the projects to their residents. "We want the RAP tax to be one that builds things citizens identify with."

The only proposed project so far is an areawide recreation center in Bountiful at the site of the city's swimming pool, ice sheet and park at 400 North and 200 West. The $20 million project would include a new ice sheet, swimming pool, baseball field and tennis courts for the use of residents from the six cities.

Johnson said the mayors have agreed that any proposed projects should serve the needs of people from surrounding areas and not just from their cities. Also, they agree some money should go to arts organizations, however at this point no specific amount of money or organizations have been identified.

"You'll see three or four major projects come to the surface," Johnson said. "We're not willing to let the county control the money."

If the anticipated $3 million raised by a RAP tax annually is distributed by population, about $1 million would go to the south end of the county, Johnson said. "None would go to parks. I believe we're OK with that because we have budgets for parks."

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