Sunset did everything they thought was appropriate. There were abuses in other cities around the state, but what happened in Sunset may have been the straw that broke the camel's back.
Mayor Norm SantFormation of an RDA in Sunset to lure a Smith's supermarket into the north Davis County city of 6,000 may be the incident that brought abuses of RDAs to the attention of the Legislature.
"Sunset did everything they thought was appropriate. There were abuses in other cities around the state, but what happened in Sunset may have been the straw that broke the camel's back," said Mayor Norm Sant.
Smith's had small stores in Clearfield and Roy but was looking in the late 1980s to build a larger, newer facility. Those two cities and Sunset became involved in an economic-development bidding war to land the grocery chain's newest "superstore."
Sant was out of office at the time and then-mayor Larry Ashdown and the City Council negotiated with Smith's attorney Tom Welch.
"The blight study was a joke," Sant said, referring to a study done by an independent consultant that determined a long-vacant lot in the city was blighted.
"It created controversy. Some people charged that declaring a vacant lot a blighted area is an abuse of the RDA concept. I agreed with that, and ran (for the office of mayor) on that," said Sant, who was re-elected mayor after being out of office for a term.
The City Council made other controversial concessions, including waiving property and franchise taxes on the store for 15 years and turning back half the sales tax the store generates. Sunset also spent about $200,000 to improve roads and install curb and sidewalk around the area.
The result was that Smith's moved into Sunset, abandoning its stores in Roy and Clearfield. Roy has recovered, attracting a sporting goods store and drug store in the former Smith's. But Clearfield is still feeling the effects of the loss.
For Sunset, the result overall is probably positive, Sant believes.
"I support the previous administration's intent, but I disagreed with the terms. I disagreed with the blight designation and giving the tax money away," he said.
The former vacant lot now generates $42,000 annually in property tax, money the city will get when the 15-year grace period expires.
The store generates more than$200,000 a year in sales tax, half of which is returned to the store.
"It's tough. The county and state send me that money and then I write a check and turn it back over to Smith's. Yes, that's tough," Sant said.
"And Winegar's (the other grocery store in Sunset) got angry, and rightly so. The city forgave their competition their property and franchise taxes for 15 years and they had a legitimate complaint that they'd been there 25 years and we'd never done anything for them," Sant said.
"But the positive side is that $100,000 in new sales tax we get is a big portion of our budget. It has allowed us to cut our property tax rate by 50 percent. Name me another city that has been able to do that," Sant said.
"So, overall, it has had positive and negative effects," according to the mayor.
Sant said he supports some reform of the RDA law, especially tightening up the definition of blight. He also supports shortening the life span of RDAs, currently at 25 years.
"You need to get the project back on the property (tax) rolls sooner than that. It should be back on in 10 years, maximum," Sant said.