Taxpayers group opposes rec center

BOUNTIFUL — With a week to go until the Aug. 3 bond election for a new $23 million recreation center in south Davis County, public discourse is sparse.

The exception is a small taxpayers group getting its word out by going door-to-door and by placing a billboard in the back of a pickup at a North Salt Lake entrance to I-15.

County Commission Chairman Dannie McConkie said Tuesday that while he normally hears from people opposed to various ballot issues, even those only affecting cities, he has had only one call about the South Davis Recreation District bond election. And that call, he said, wasn't negative or positive, just someone with a procedural question.

The group Citizens for Tax Fairness is crying foul over the South Davis Recreation District's float in last Friday's Bountiful Handcart Days parade, which advocated a yes vote on Aug. 3. Ron Mortensen, a member of the group, said what appeared to be lifeguards from the city's swimming pool were handing out leaflets urging people to vote for the bond.

When members of his group called the Bountiful Police Department earlier in the week and asked if they were allowed to hand out leaflets along the parade route, they were told they couldn't, and if they did, they would be subject to arrest, he said.

Mike Jerman of the Utah Taxpayers Association has joined with Citizens for Tax Fairness in opposing the recreation center, although for slightly different reasons than Mortensen and his colleagues. The Taxpayers Association opposes government-owned businesses that compete with the private sector; the citizens' group agrees new recreation facilities need to be built, but not at a cost of $23 million, said member Delane England.

Voters in the cities of Centerville, West Bountiful, Bountiful, Woods Cross and North Salt Lake will be asked Aug. 3 to approve general obligation bonds of $18 million for the recreation center. It would be built at the site of the present Bountiful swimming pool, 400 North and 200 West. The Davis School District said it would give $5 million to the center for construction costs.

Earlier this week, the Davis Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution supporting the recreation center, saying it encourages government entities to get together and build joint projects that save tax dollars. From the beginning, south Davis mayors have said they couldn't build a large facility to serve residents of the five cities unless it was done jointly.

In its resolution, the Chamber said the county does not have adequate access to ice skating, ice hockey and other ice-related activities for residents, and it has limited access to competitive swimming facilities for high school, amateur and professional sporting events.