Minutes for 2007-12-11, Direct pdf link.
MINUTES
SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF WEBER COUNTY, UTAH
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 1:30 p.m.
Commission Conference Room, #360, Weber Center, 2380 Washington Boulevard, Ogden, Utah
Present:
Jan Zogmaister, Weber County Commissioner
Kenneth Bischoff, Weber County Commissioner
Monette Hurtado, Weber County Deputy Attorney
John Inglish, UTA
Louenda Downs, Davis County Commissioner
Bret Millburn, Davis County Commissioner
Alan Hansen, Davis County Commissioner
Wilf Somerkorn, Davis County CED
Fred Oates, WACOG
Mick Crandall, UTA
Art Bowen, UTA
Terry Diehl, UTA
DeMar Mitchell, UTA, representing Davis County
Steve Randall, UTA, Davis County Coordinator
Bob Hunter, UTA
Kristen Moulton, Salt Lake Tribune
Mitch Shaw, Standard Examiner
Richard Hendrix, of Harrisville
A. Discussion by Weber County Commissioners and Utah Transit Authority on Transportation Tax
John Inglish, UTA, gave a brief history of the UTA stating that he and Mr. Crandall had been with UTA since its inception. He said that there had always been an issue on how to equitably distribute the service between the counties. Equity analysis had been done every five years and it had been easier earlier on, although it had never been an exact accountability. In 1999 this issue changed dramatically and it was related to major capital investments in a regional system. Up to today, Utah County is a member of UTA city by city. Mr. Inglish showed that different percentages of sales taxes were collected from various counties starting in 2000 as the legislature set up different opportunities for entities to become part of UTA. This compounded the equity issue and became more difficult with purchases of rights-of-way that extended from one county to another, etc.
The legislature at its last session removed the sales tax beginning January 1, 2008 from non-prepared foods. This resulted in a revenue decrease to UTA from Davis and Weber counties of about $1.8 million/year because about 10% of the UTA’s revenues came from sales tax on food. UTA then met with legislative leaders because this would impact UTA’s financial planning for their 20-30 year-long range master plan and the legislature’s response was for counties to approve an adjustment to their second quarter cent sales tax of .05 cents. Mr. Inglish said that if the commissioners approved the transit tax it would amount to $7 per resident per year. To assist them in the equity issue, the UTA had hired Booz, Allen Hamilton in 2005 and there appeared to be relative equity, although it was never perfect for at one time a county might be a donor county and at another a donee. Booz, Allen & Hamilton was currently doing another equity analysis. There was discussion about increasing fares, extending the life of buses, etc. Fares are always being increased but the increase would have to be very significant in Davis and Weber counties to make up the shortfall.
Davis County commissioners stated that their constituents were telling them not to move forward with this tax, and they also wanted to look at the figures and study the issue in order to respond in a reasonable manner. Davis County Commissioner Louenda Downs stated that this tax increase could not have come at a worse time because of the public outcry from the recent significant property tax value increase and taxes. Additionally, she noted the problem with communication from the UTA stating that the county heard late from UTA. Mr. Diehl said that there had been failed communication and would try to implement communication once per year and perhaps make a presentation at county commissions. Commissioner Zogmaister said that this would be very appreciated.
UTA planned to use some of the reserves to cover the shortfall, but said they could only do this for a short time to give the commissioners an opportunity to review the figures and other issues. Questions were to be forwarded to Mr. Crandall of the UTA. Commissioner Zogmaister said that after reviewing the figures received from the UTA, there did not appear to be an immediate need for a tax increase, that the Weber County Commission supported transit and would act prudently. She stressed that the Commission was not trying to negatively impact transit but only to protect the taxpayers’ money and only tax the people for transit as needed. She noted that with FrontRunner coming into service, there would be many changes, including changes to some of the current bus routes and it all should be reviewed before making a decision. UTA representatives said that they needed an answer by the end of January, that they would just be postponing by not taking action now.
The meeting was adjourned by Mr. Inglish with thanks for everyone’s input.