At the regular Carbon County Commission meeting on October 18 Carbon County Clerk Auditor, Seth Oveson presented a proposal to increase the taxes for the County Assessing and Collecting Levy and the Municipal Services Levy. Oveson outlined the details of how much each increase would equate to and who would be affected by the tax increase.

The first open house meetings that the Commissioners have for the community to come in and talk to them about these proposed tax increases is on November 8 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 at the Carbon County Commission Chambers located at 751 East 100 North. The second is on November 13 from 6:00 pm to 8 at the Carbon County Events Center located at 450 S. Fairgrounds Road. The public hearing for the proposed tax increases will be during the regularly scheduled commission meeting on November 14.

The County Assessing and Collecting Levy is revenue that is used to assess and collect taxes for all taxing entities in the county. As Oveson explained to the commissioners, this is not only for the county but also the other taxing municipalities in the county. In the commission meeting Oveson stated that by state law, the county acts as the entity that assesses, collects and distributes all taxes for all the taxing entities in the county. Currently it costs the county 1.2 million dollars to do this and they currently only collect $800,000 on the levy.

The tax increase if implemented, would be assessed against every property in the county. The tax increase proposal would result in an increase of 45-percent on this one-line item on every person in the county who pays property taxes.

The second item presented to the commission by Oveson for a tax increase was the Municiple Services Levy. Oveson explained during the commission meeting that this proposed tax increase would only affect the residents who live in non-incorporated areas of the county and this covers the needs in the unincorporated areas of the county that the municipalities cover in the cities. Roads and the road shop are the biggest portion of this budget. Oveson stated that currently the road shop budget is 3 million dollars and that right now they are only taking in $300,000 on this levy and that in years past it has been supplemented by mineral royalty money.

If implemented, this increase in tax levy would be assessed only to county residents outside of the incorporated city limits of Price, Helper, Wellington and East Carbon. The proposed tax increase is 707.36-percent and would generate $2,121,900.00 in revenue.

Oveson explained to the commissioners during the meeting, that while the percentage of increase may seem large, that the total brings the county closer to where the other municipalities are. He stated that in comparison, the county would be slightly higher than Price City, but lower than Helper, Wellington and East Carbon.

Video of the October 18 Commission meeting and the proposed tax increases can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z_4O6fN84E