Now with the holidays over and a new year underway, Castle Country Radio Stations had the opportunity to sit down with Carbon County Commissioner Tony Martines to discuss the budget approval and upcoming projects coming to the area.

The budget was a huge topic in December and brought out many concerned citizens who were worried about a tax increase. “We had a lot of feedback, a lot of people came to the hearings but I’m really encouraged by the folks that called, asked us questions – wanted to know a little bit more about it. I think they got a good understanding of why the tax was needed,” said Commissioner Martines. “We did increase it, moving forward into 2020 it was a needed thing. Again, we inherited a lot debt, we inherited a lot of things we had to pay for, we all know that the revenue was going away, so this was as we saw as a commission, was the best thing to do.” All three commissioners appreciated the feedback from concerned citizens via phone calls, letters and official visits to the Carbon County Clerk’s office.

There is a solar farm project in Wellington that three well-known Utah companies would like to bring into to the area. This project alone could bring in much needed revenue to the county. “This solar project on the land they are proposing to put it on, there are five taxing entities in the county, all five taxing entities if we left that property as is would get about $240,000.00 in the next 15 possible 20 years, right in the ballpark. This solar project alone, not to all the five taxing entities but just to the county would bring in over $800,000.00 in that same time period. So we are looking at things like that to bring in revenue so hopefully, we don’t have to raise taxes every again,” explained Martines. Another great project that is underway is the expansion of Intermountain Electronics, who most recently hired 60 new employees and are looking forward to what their expansion will bring to the community.

Community members that would like to hear this interview in its entirety may do so by visiting www.castlecountryradio.com or http://koalitv.com/