The public hearing to discuss Carbon county’s proposal to increase taxes was held on Wednesday, November 14 at 6:00 pm. Many tax payers filled the seats in the chamber room, as well as, the hallways of the Carbon County Administration Building.
The public hearing was scheduled after Carbon County Clerk Auditor, Seth Oveson presented the commissioners on October 18 with two proposals to increase taxes. One was for the County Assessing and Collecting Levy and the Municipal Services Levy, which would affect every single person in the county who pays property taxes by a 45 percent increase. The second proposal, showed a 707.36 percent tax increase on the Municipal Services Levy that would be assessed only to county residents outside of the incorporated city limits of Price, Helper, Wellington and East Carbon.
Carbon County Commissioners Casey Hopes, Jae Potter and Jake Mellor began to receive grumblings from the community about both of the tax increase proposals. This lead to scheduling two Open Houses for residents to attend and meet with department heads to learn more about the services they each provide the community. Many individuals thought the meetings were going to be an opportunity to address the commissioners, but it was more of an informal gathering. Any recommendations or concerns by citizens were submitted in writing through a suggestion box that was made available throughout the evening at both events.
The public hearing was now time for residents to come forward with statements regarding the proposals. Each commissioner briefly took time at the commencement of the hearing to welcome and thank guests for attending both the open houses and public hearing. There were 35 individuals that signed up to speak in front of the three commissioners. The evening’s speakers presented a wide range of individuals such as business and home owners, retirees living on a fixed income, single parents, as well as, lifelong residents of Carbon County. No matter where they stood demographically the consensus was no one was thrilled with the proposed tax increase.
One of the evening’s speakers, Larry Bowman, faced the audience when he approached the podium and asked by a show of hands, how many of the individuals were willing to pay the additional tax, no one reacted. When asked how many were against paying the tax, every single person in attendance raised their hand. He then turned to the three commissioners to say, “What does that tell you gentleman? That tells you that we have a situation that is out of control. Your runaway spending has put us into a situation where we have a negative balance in our books. It’s unconscionable when we have such a situation for you gentleman to vote yourselves a raise from $600.00 a month, plus benefits per month, to $82,000.00 a year, plus benefits, plus retirement. You guys are going into a situation where that is a quarter of a million dollars and we’re worried about trying to find money. That’s not fair gentleman, that’s not fair at all.”
Several of the speakers shared suggestions in how the county could reduce expenses, examples were to decrease the contribution the county makes towards their employee’s health benefits, take benefits away from any part-time employees, implement a hiring freeze, put an end to use of county vehicles after hours and look at current over extended salaries.
Tax payers want answers on how the numbers were generated to justify an increase of 45 percent across the board and why county residents will be required to pay an increase of 707.36 percent. Alan Peterson, business owner, was honest about the figures that were presented, “Those numbers are overwhelming and they confuse and bottom line is I don’t have confidence that the numbers you’re starting with are accurate. I call you to have an external audit, whether that be a forensic audit or a deep audit. The open houses and all of that have been interesting but the whole focus seems to be on justification of this proposed tax increase.” The audit is believed to bring fresh eyes, with authority to account for every single penny that has been brought in as revenue and spent for expenses. The audit can bring clarity on how the county is in the situation they are in.
Tax payers who were unable to attend the public hearing may view it at koalitv.com by clicking on the In Demand box. Comments may still be made regarding the proposed tax increase by completing a survey posted on the county’s Facebook page.
County officials assured the audience that they do not want to raise taxes and that input from the community is wanted and appreciated. All of the written suggestions from both open houses, along with the testimonies made at the public hearing and responses from the survey will guide them with the county’s budget process.