By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
An ordinance requiring county residents to declare
whether or not their home is a primary or secondary
residence is not necessary.
The ordinance which could be adopted by any county,
according to regulations set forth in Utah HB 305, is not
one that Juab County needs according to research done by
Shirl Nichols, county assessor, at the request of Juab
County Commissioners.
"Some counties will find this ordinance
beneficial," said Nichols. "Ours is not one of them."
Counties are not required to adopt an ordinance but
can, and, if they wish, can do so at a later date. They
do not need to adopt the ordinance by Jan. 1, 2003,
unless they want the benefit of property tax to come to
them this year.
The bill was designed to assist counties like
Washington County, for example, where there are many
residents who live in the community for the winter in
homes that are not primary residences.
"Counties with communities like Park City or St.
George, will benefit because they need to collect taxes
on secondary residences," he said.
Juab County only has a few people who would have a
secondary residence in the county, mostly cabins, and
would find an ordinance requiring a declaration of
primary and secondary residences more of a nuisance than
a benefit.
The legal opinion of David Leavitt, county
attorney, also agreed with the assessment made by
Nichols.
Such an ordinance would create more paperwork for
county offices, more headache for residents, and more
problems for county commissioners at the Board of
Equalization hearings than it would be worth.
"In Juab County, most of the homes which are
occupied are primary residences," said Nichols.
The only way to handle the ordinance requirement
would be to send a form to all residents and have them
bring the form in to the county building. Many of them
would not notice the form and would then have to attend
B.O.E. hearings.
The writing of an ordinance will benefit Washington
County, and other places like it, because a primary
residence would be assessed at 50 percent of value and a
secondary residence would be assessed at 100 percent of
value.
