Vote on S. Davis RAP tax takes center stage

CENTERVILLE — In early 2009, a grassy parcel of land could become the crown jewel of performing arts in southern Davis County if voters in four cities approve a sales-tax increase Tuesday.

The 10th-of-a-cent increase, known as a RAP (recreation, arts and parks) tax, will be on the ballot in Centerville, Bountiful, West Bountiful and Woods Cross.

The North Salt Lake and Farmington city councils declined to put the measure on ballots this year.

Opponents of the measure say it's not a function of government to build performing arts centers and that the public shouldn't have to force certain residents to pay for a center from which they may get little benefit.

It just depends on what you value, says Centerville assistant city manager Blaine Lutz.

Some could argue that governments don't have a responsibility to provide recreational facilities and parks, he said, but residents demand them.

The election will tell local officials if the same need exists for a South Davis Performing Arts Center.

The facility is estimated to cost $15 million to build, though the scope of the building may change depending on what types of revenue and funding are available.

Centerville's redevelopment agency owns 2.5 acres of land where the performing arts center could be built, near 400 West and 500 North. The city plans to contribute the land and infrastructure, valued at about $6 million, toward the center if voters approve the RAP tax.

The center would likely need a private donor and possibly some money from the county's tourism fund, as well, Lutz said.

The center would include a 500-seat main theater, as well as a 150- to 200-seat black box theater, recital halls and recording space.

It would also mean a new home for the Rodgers Memorial Theatre, which has resided in a strip mall on Pages Lane since 1991. The theater seats 265 people, but there are 3,500 season ticket holders, said Bill Davies, president of the nonprofit South Davis Cultural Arts Corp., which runs the theater.

Bountiful resident Ron Mortensen, co-founder of CitizensForTaxFairness.org, says property-tax increases imposed by four taxing entities in 2006 and 2007 are enough for residents to bear right now.

Residents will also vote on a quarter-of-a-cent sales-tax increase to fund transportation and transit projects in Davis County. "If (a theater) is so valuable to the community," Mortensen says, "why can't it support itself though private donations?"

The arts aren't a core function of government, he says, adding that if people have disposable income to spend on a performing arts center, why not use that money for a veterans group, Boy Scouts or a charity?

Lutz said the performing arts center has been kicked around for a long time, and the window for the project is closing. It has the support of the mayors of Centerville, Bountiful, West Bountiful and Woods Cross; and also the support of the Rodgers Memorial Theatre, Bountiful Davis Arts Center, Bountiful Performing Arts Center, West Bountiful Arts Council and the Joy Foundation.

"If (residents) want to vote for it, then great," Lutz says.

Information is available at www.southdavisrap.com.

---

E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com