By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
The Emery County Board of Commissioners gathered together on Tuesday, Aug. 5, for their biweekly meeting. On the agenda this go-around was an introduction to the new Miss Emery County Royalty, a donation to the Emery High Rodeo team, and a presentation on the tax evaluation process from County Assessor Kris Bell.
Opening the meeting was the pageant royalty, starting with Miss Emery County herself, Charlie Cordner. Cordner is using her position to promote her community service initiative ‘Harvest to Home’, which seeks to educate both children and adults on proper nutrition and raise money to purchase cattle, which will be slaughtered and the meat donated to local food banks.
For Miss Emery Teen Hallie Frandsen, her CSI is ‘Join the Movement: Get up and Get Active’. Through this platform, Frandsen looks to raise money for children to participate in youth sports. To aid in this, on Aug. 16, she will be hosting a pickleball tournament fundraiser, with all funds going toward her CSI.
Also introduced were Mini Miss Emery Marikit Thayn, Little Miss Bostyn Labrum and Junior Miss Paizlee Jensen.
Following the introductions, the submissions received for the county’s RFQ for the Emery County Industrial Park master plan were reviewed. Receiving four applications, the commissioners moved to acknowledge and accept the submissions.
Next, the board weighed in on a donation request from the EHS Rodeo team. “In the past, we’ve done a $250 donation. We’ve done that for years, I believe it has been a diamond sponsor,” said Commissioner Keven Jensen. The commissioners approved the $250 donation 3-0.
The Commissioners then looked at a potential appointment of Commissioner Dennis Worwood to the Utah Energy Research Board to serve as the county’s representative. “I really appreciate the energy lab requesting a local representative, a commissioner, to be on that board,” expressed Jensen before voting to pass the measure.
After this, the body faced the adoption of the Emery County emergency operations plan. Emery County Emergency Manager Jeremy Lake explained that this was a routine update, as they only needed the signature of Commissioner Worwood added to the document. Hearing this, the item was approved unanimously.
Moving forward, the county also passed a memorandum of understanding between the county and the America250 program and accepted a grant for the Emery County Victims Advocate Program.
Next, the Commission began the process of deeding land to Castle Dale City for the All-Abilities playground the city seeks to construct. “I’ve got all the Mayors on the western side. They’re excited about it and have given letters of support,” stated Castle Dale Mayor Danny Van Wagoner. “We’ve got about half the money right now, maybe a little more. We’ve got all the bids in for security, for lights, everything. So we’re doing really well in the community. Businesses have been incredibly generous, and so has the county.”
The penultimate item of discussion was the approval of a resolution authorizing the filing of cross-appeals for 2025 centrally assessed properties. This item stems from appeals filed by PacifiCorp and Diamond K Gypsum regarding their centrally assessed tax rates. Attorney Mike Olsen explained that to begin a cross-appeal, the resolution would need to be passed.
Hearing this, the resolution was approved unopposed.
Rounding out the meeting was a presentation by Assessor Bell to explain the tax evaluation process.
“All of the offices within this building have a part of this process. I do not decide the tax rates. I do not decide the total amount of tax dollars each citizen owes to afford all those services that we do have,” explained Bell. “Taxing agencies must levy taxes. The sum of the moneys needed each year by all the taxing agencies is the taxes that you pay. What I do is I put the fair market value on properties in our county.”
Bell continued to explain that by state law, the assessed tax rate must equal at least 90% of the state’s determined value, then it must be raised. This creates a tightrope walk for assessors trying to reach the state’s figure while also trying to maintain low property taxes for citizens.
Following this, the meeting was adjourned.
The next meeting of the Emery County Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 19, beginning at 3 p.m. in the Emery County Administration Building.