By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
At the public hearing held by the Juab County
Commission to discuss the new fire district and the taxing
ability the district has, the commission heard comments from
just three individuals.
Only one of those disapproved the creation of the
district and objected to allowing it to tax for the services
it provides.
State statute requires a public hearing be held in
August of this year since the fire district was voted into
being in November.
"Without the fire district," said Robert Steele,
commissioner, "the individual fire departments could not
have qualified for the help they have already received
through grants."
The new Eureka fire truck and the Levan brush truck
would not have been possible. The grant which came to the
West Desert to help purchase a fire truck came through the
fire district.
Richard Brough, a former county commissioner, said he
thought many residents of the county did not really
understand the fact that tax increases were allowed as a
result of approving the district.
"The taxpayers overwhelmingly approved the district in
the November election," sad Wm. Boyd Howarth, commission
chair. "The tax increase was figured out and was presented
to the public."
He said on his home, for example, the increase in
property tax would be $58 for this taxing year.
"Kick that up to $60 and it works out to about $5 per
month," said Howarth. "My fire insurance is more than
that."
Fire insurance rates should go down more than the tax
paid per home owner would increase, he said.
In addition, the new fire district will be of benefit
to all the taxpayers of the county, he said. New fire
equipment would be easier to obtain with the fire district
in place.
Individual communities had been supporting the fire
stations in their communities with tax collection money. Now
those funds would be collected by the fire district through
a property tax levied by the district board.
"I am not opposed to the fire district," said Brough.
What he opposed, he said, was allowing a board, which was
not made up of elected officials, to make decisions which
would allow them to collect property tax. He opposed such
autonomy, and always had. It was a dangerous thing, which
history had proved over and over again.
"I think that such decisions should be made by elected
officials," he said. Those who were elected had to answer
directly to the people who elected them.
"Of those who sit on the board," said Jim Maxwell, a
board member, "five are appointed by the city councils of
their communities."
Other members of the board were selected by the county
commission. All board members are under the rule of those
elected by the people and will answer to the council or
commission and those who elected them.
"The board is under the rule of the elected and is
very well-oiled," said Maxwell.
Howarth said he, himself, had been a member of the
Nephi City Volunteer Fire Department. He had served in that
capacity for 41 years and knew and understood the need for
money to operate.
Lloyd Condor, mayor of Eureka, said he was a firm
supporter of the fire district.
"In my opinion, the fire district has already proved
to be beneficial and has already re-paid any tax increase."
The fires which had burned in and around Eureka had made the
district invaluable to that community.
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