Utah County Commissioner Steve White seeks third term

PROVO — After two terms in office, Utah County Commissioner Steve White announced Tuesday he will be seeking a third.

Currently the commission chairman, White will be running on the Republican ticket and said he is for a fiscally and socially conservative government.

Some of his main focuses over the last eight years, he said, have been to keep property taxes low, make public safety the highest priority on the budget and help create a better transportation system in Utah County. If re-elected, he plans on continuing with these goals.

With the downturn in the economy, White said, people in office sometimes go straight to firing workers or raising taxes, but he wants to continue to find ways to cut costs without having to do either.

"I have a real anti-tax-increase mentality," White said. "I don't think it solves the problem. Too much spending is the problem."

Since elected, White said he has helped increase funding for law enforcement by 85 percent without a tax increase and has also taken advantage of low-interest bonding for construction projects in the county.

Before becoming commissioner, White was the vice president and general manager of Office Essentials for 12 years. He has been the chairman of the Utah County Planning Commission and the Utah Taxpayers Association. White served in the U.S. Navy from 1967 to 1971 and attended Brigham Young University. He is the father of four boys and currently resides in unincorporated Utah County.

Eight other Utah County positions are also up for election this year, including Utah County Commissioner Gary Anderson's seat.

The candidacy filing period for county offices runs March 12-19.

e-mail: slenz@desnews.com