Compromise struck on demise of Salt Lake County's law enforcement fee

SALT LAKE CITY —  A compromise has been reached over the demise of Salt Lake County's controversial law enforcement fee.

HB226 will ban the special service district fee as of Dec. 31, 2012, said Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, who is the Senate sponsor of the legislation.

After a tense meeting early Thursday morning where the issue was discussed before the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, Bramble facilitated a number of meetings among local leaders Friday. "There is a compromise that all of the political subdivisions have agreed to," Bramble announced Friday afternoon.

The compromise means Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, House sponsor of the legislation, will introduce an amendment to change the date that the fee shall terminate from Jan. 1, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2012.

In exchange, legislation intended to address conflicts between the county and certain municipalities will not move out of committee, Bramble said. Instead, the affected parties will attempt to achieve resolution on the various issues, which range from disagreements whether current practices constitute double taxation for certain services.

The bills that will be held on the table under the agreement deal with emergency response, flood control and paying for municipal services in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, which have been designated as recreational areas. 

Another bill that would have allowed the county to impose a franchise fee as another source of revenue to replace funds raised by the law enforcement fee will not be considered, either.

Bramble said it is better government when elected officials of the affected political subdivisions come together to develop solutions "so we don’t need to run legislation. That's really our process of governance at its finest. My hat's off to all the elected officials of the political subdivisions who came together to make that happen."

Salt Lake County's Deputy Mayor Nichole Dunn said the next step is to review sales tax revenue projections to estimate how much revenue will be needed to pay the county's share of the Salt Lake Valley Law Enforcement Service Area budget.

Then, officials will meet with county residents to explain that the expected passage of Harper's bill means the law enforcement fee is off the table for future budgets and other options must be explored.

"Our options are cuts and or property tax increases. What are (residents') preferences?" Dunn said. 

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