Plan to create a Bryce Canyon City creates friction

A move to turn a 200-acre resort near the entrance of Bryce Canyon National Park into Garfield County's newest town could result in a significant loss of tax revenue for the county.

The owners of Ruby's Inn, a commercial district that includes a general store, hotel, and gas station, have filed a petition to create Bryce Canyon City. If approved, the incorporation would allow the town — with a population of only about 120 people it would not technically be a city, despite the name — to retain most of the sales tax revenue generated by its businesses.

Estimates of that sales tax revenue are approximately $300,000, an amount that almost equals the money generated by the county's property taxes. Thus, county commissioners are concerned that the incorporation would force them to raise their portion of the property tax by 70 percent or more, or about $50 on a $130,000 home.

But Rod Syrett, owner of Ruby's Inn, said that one motivation for incorporation would be to better serve the residents and tourists who come to the resort area. Despite the amount of sales tax they generate, they are still forced to provide everything from addresses to snowplows in the area.

"County commissioners are bad-mouthing us, saying we are greedy and would gain an unfair advantage over other businesses. Well, we put in a five-lane highway here, paved it ourselves. We have a water system. A well or pump goes down, we fix it," he told The Associated Press on Friday.

In years past, the county commissioners could have denied the petition for incorporation, which Syrett plans to file Monday, if they considered it to be not feasible.

However, a change in state law during this year's general session now requires that counties must grant approval for incorporations of towns between 100 and 1,000 residents.

The law was changed to allow residents in unincorporated areas who are frustrated with their county services to take matters into their own hands, said Lincoln Shurtz of the League of Cities and Towns. The law was primarily targeted at a population of people living near each other in places like rural Summit County, and a private business utilizing the land was "the anomaly."

Still, he said that if any area meets the standards for population and resident support — 50 percent of the residents and landowners have to support the petition to force the incorporation — then the debate probably becomes more philosophical.

"The fundamental question is what role property owners have in determining who will govern them and how they will be governed," Shurtz said during a legislative committee hearing this week.

Garfield County Commissioner Maloy Dodds said that allowing a corporate entity such as Ruby's Inn to become their own town made little sense, especially in a county that struggles to generate revenue. After all, almost 97 percent of their land is federally owned and not taxable, making the sales tax revenue from tourism the "bread and butter" of the annual budget.

---

E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com