Salt Lake County plans mailers, open houses to explain police fees

SALT LAKE CITY — Unincorporated Salt Lake County residents may not have heard of the Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Service Area, but they will soon, thanks to a countywide public relations campaign.

Starting in February, residents, business owners and land owners in unincorporated areas of the county will receive postcards and brochures explaining the new entity, known until Friday as the Unified Police District, and its associated fees.

Salt Lake County Councilman Jim Bradley said the name was changed to avoid confusion with the Unified Police Department, the replacement entity for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. The United Police Department covers the unincorporated areas of the county, as well as Riverton, Herriman and Bluffdale.

Service fees will be issued by the Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Service Area. Bradley said the public relations campaign is designed to help people understand those fees.

Earlier this month, the council approved a plan to subsidize law enforcement costs for unincorporated Salt Lake County by assessing annual fees of about $180 for residents.

"Rather than have people angry and not pay it or confused and not pay it, it would really be to our benefit to provide people with that information in the first three months," Bradley said.

In addition to the two mailers, the campaign will include open houses in Magna, Kearns and Millcreek, during which residents can ask questions about the fees and new Unified Police Department.

"The open houses are structured to answer questions," said Josh Ewing of Love Communications, the company conducting the public relations campaign. "We've already had the public hearing, so we don't want to give the impression that these hearings are to change the minds of public officials regarding these fees. … It's not your typical town hall meeting where everybody gets up and says their peace."

When the bills are mailed in March, they'll be accompanied by a letter explaining the issue yet again.

"The one thing I want to stress (in the letter) is the temporary nature of the fee as sales tax comes back," Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said. "Obviously we can't predict future sales tax revenue, but (we're making) a commitment that we'll revisit it."

Following the open houses, the county will maintain a Web site where residents can look up frequently asked questions and calculate the amount of their fee.

The public relations campaign could cost the county up to $100,000, but Corroon and council members say that's a small price to pay to make sure the public is informed.

"If everybody read the newspaper, we wouldn't have to do it," Bradley said. "But everybody doesn't read the newspaper."

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