Davis is seeking 45% boost in county property-tax share

KAYSVILLE — Davis County commissioners are proposing a 45 percent increase in the county's share of property taxes to pay for repairing flood-control channels, fund the operating costs of the expanded Davis County Jail and bolster the county's Division of Aging Services.

If commissioners approve it in December, the total tax increase on the average Davis County home valued at $171,000 will be $60. Currently, the county portion of the property tax on an average home

is $133.93, or 11.5 percent of the total property tax paid by county residents, according to Steve Rawlings, the Davis County clerk/auditor.

The proposed increase would raise the county's portion to $193.93, or 15.9 percent of the total.

The rest of the property tax goes toward the Davis School District, local city taxes, the Davis County Library, the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and mosquito abatement, as well as other programs.

County officials believe the need for the increase is pressing. Flood-control channels are deteriorating. The expanded jail will have operating, maintenance and personnel costs when it opens in early 2007. And as time marches on, the county's senior population is expected to grow three times faster than it did during the late 1990s. Commissioners say a tax increase could fund more senior-oriented services, like employment programs, volunteer opportunities, an ombudsman and a caregiver program.

Davis County Public Works director Tom Smith and Davis County Commissioner Dannie McConkie are getting the word out about the tax increase because they don't want to relive 2002, when commissioners were thwarted in an attempt to raise property taxes to pay for the jail expansion and operations costs, McConkie said.

Commissioners in 2002 proposed a 138 percent increase in the county portion of the tax. Public outcry against the tax increase led commissioners to rescind that idea in favor of allowing residents to vote in 2003 on a bond for financing the jail expansion's construction, which the voters approved.

"Last time, we were accused of not telling the story," McConkie said of the 2002 proposed tax increase.

So in recent weeks, Smith and McConkie have visited city councils in Clinton, Clearfield, Fruit Heights and Kaysville. South Weber and Layton councils will hear from the duo in the next two weeks, followed by the rest of the county. Information also has been posted on the county's Web site.