The town had to increase its taxes by 27 percent ($20.24 on a $200,000 home) to pay new charges imposed by Utah County to cover half the salary of a sheriff's officer. The county now charges $33,000 for police protection, instead of $1,500.

Even with the low taxes, the town offers a park, a community center and has a new fire station for its volunteer (of course) fire department, Cook said.

"We work hard to keep taxes low," she said. "But some of the roads are starting to need repairs, so we may have to look at some sort of a raise soon."

Residents in Provo have the second-lowest taxes in the county — $1,197.35 on a $200,000 home. That is also the lowest of any large Wasatch Front city.

"We haven't raised taxes in 19 years, except when voters approved building a new library," said Provo Mayor Lewis Billings.

(Mike Jerman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, says only three ways exist for a taxing entity to increase taxes: by voter initiative, by a tax rate hike approved by the entity's governing body, and by growth adding new properties that are taxed. Truth-in-taxation laws prevented a fourth way used in the past: an increase in valuation of existing, developed property. When valuation from such properties increases, truth-in-taxation laws require a tax-rate cut.).

Billings said Provo works hard to find ways to economize, use new technology and find other ways to save money.

"For example, every time someone retires we look closely at whether we really need to replace them or whether others can do their job," he said.

Billings said Provo's low taxes "are a tribute to the employees here who work hard and efficiently."

One reason taxes are low for Provo residents is they pay taxes to fewer local governments than most, and at lower rates for similar services. To illustrate, compare them to what is paid by residents in the county's highest-taxed area — on the Utah County side of Traverse Ridge in Draper.

For schools, Provo residents pay $685.74 on a $200,000 home to the Provo School District. Traverse Ridge residents pay $893.09 to Alpine School District.

For municipal services, Provo residents pay $316.03 to Provo. Traverse Ridge residents pay $145.97 to Draper plus $385.77 to its Traverse Ridge Special Service District (to cover higher costs for services on the mountain compared to the valley).

For water and sewer, Traverse Ridge residents pay up to $142.45 to four water districts besides Draper. Provoans pay $39.83 to one water district in addition to Provo.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com