Utah Legislature: Police fees could be replaced with franchise tax

SALT LAKE CITY — If Rep. Wayne A. Harper's HB383 finds legislative approval, it will eliminate the controversial Unified Police District fees for unincorporated Salt Lake County. In place of those fees, the bill grants the county authority to assess utility franchise taxes to pay for the police services.

But if the proposal fails, Harper, R-West Jordan, said there are other ways of eliminating the fee.

"The other solution is to repeal their authority to levy the tax," he said.

Last year the Legislature approved a bill that gave Salt Lake County the authority to create a police district with taxing authority. Harper said when the bill passed, he and many other legislators understood the county would not be raising taxes the following year in light of the tough economy.

"When we discussed this bill previously, we said you can't raise taxes," Harper said. "So when they came and said, 'We're having this fee,' we were surprised."

Now, Harper said he and legislators representing unincorporated areas are "concerned with what we see as an inappropriate use of that bill."

Salt Lake County Councilman Michael Jensen said he had heard rumors that such a bill might be proposed if the utility franchise fee failed, but had heard nothing official. If the county couldn't levy the UPD fee or an alternative, Jensen said the county would have to make serious cuts.

"The fee is about 60 percent of the funding for the UPD, so we would have to lay off 60 percent of the UPD," he said.

Councilman Jim Bradley, who sits with Jensen and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon on the Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Service Area Board, which administers the county's partnership in the UPD, hadn't heard of a bill repealing the county's authority, but said without either fee, the county would have no revenue to cover the full cost of police services.

"If they do that, we have absolutely no way to get any revenue for law enforcement," Bradley said. "We need that."

Harper said he was confident HB383 would pass, eliminating the need to repeal county authority. But Corroon still said that didn't put him completely at ease.

"I'm always a little worried when the Legislature is in session," he said.

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