A fee or a tax?

Salt Lake County's police fee never was a good idea. It is confusing — so much so that a year ago, officials found that more than a quarter of unincorporated residents had failed to pay it. Most importantly, it denigrates the hard-working peace officers whose salaries it funds. Fees are associated with services that can be shut off for nonpayment. Officers have been questioned by folks who wonder whether the county checks a homeowner's payment status before dispatching help in an emergency.

But the fee, which by legislative edict must disappear by the end of 2012, has made one thing abundantly clear: Policing is not free.

It's important for unincorporated residents to understand this in coming weeks as the county begins a series of public meetings to discuss alternatives. If it can't impose a separate fee, the county will have to increase property taxes. Making cuts to other important services or to the number of officers should not be considered as options.

The problem started two years ago, after the Legislature granted the county authority to create a Unified Police Department, which combined the county and several cities into an agency that grants each an equal say in law enforcement. The change was supposed to be revenue-neutral, but it coincided with the worst part of the recession, and the county sheriff's office found itself with an $11 million deficit and no way to fix it short of a tax increase. It chose instead to impose the fee.

That was a poor decision. As county officials noted, the fee was more fair than a tax in that all property owners, including normally tax-exempt churches, were required to pay it. But it created a great deal of confusion and anger. Even former county Mayor Nancy Workman threw her bill in the trash a year ago because she thought it was junk mail.

In reality, the assessment was much more a tax than a fee, semantics aside. Universal services, such as schools, roads, police and fire services, are traditionally paid through compulsory taxes. Fees generally are associated with dog licenses or admission to a county recreation center. They cannot be deducted from income taxes the way property taxes can.

County officials say a property tax hike, because it would be based on property values, would result in a smaller bill for most homeowners than the current $162 fee. That ought to make people wonder why a property tax hike wasn't considered in the first place.

We understand the fear of tax hikes, which is pronounced during a time of severe economic downturn. But a buck is a buck, and whether a taxpayers pays it for a fee or a tax makes little difference to the economy. The important thing is that county residents are protected. Police funding ought not be so complicated and controversial, and it won't be once the county returns it to a traditional tax-based system.