County employees will get a pay raise and homeowners in Davis County will get a small tax cut in the 1994 budget unveiled Monday by the county commissioners.
The small tax cut, made possible by the county fully utilizing the assessing and collecting revenue it collects under a state mandate, amounts to about $7 on a $100,000 home.The commission held a public hearing on its spending plan Monday afternoon, drawing a handful of county department heads and one golf course developer.
Ernie Schneiter is building a golf course on 66 acres in West Point in north Davis County. He and West Point Mayor Howard Stoddard appealed to the commission to fund a flood control channel from the west end of the course out to the Great Salt Lake.
Their appeal was in vain, at least for the coming year.
Commission Chairman Gayle Stevenson said the budgeting process is one of the more onerous jobs of a commissioner, trying to balance the needs of each department against others and the county's overall needs.
"It's not a very delightful process," Stevenson said. "Everyone takes a pretty good whack in the final budget."
County employees will get a 2.5 percent cost-of-living salary adjustment and raises will range from 1.5 to 1.75 percent, depending on their evaluation, Stevenson said.
The county is also adding a few employees, including a half-dozen new property assessors to meet a state-mandated requirement that all residential and commercial property be re-evaluated every four years.
The county will also hire an additional dispatcher and court bailiff for the sheriff's department, a new employee in the clerk/ auditor's office to handle the 1994 elections, and several other full- and part-time employees.
By adding the new assessing staff, the county can retain more of the tax money it collects under the state's assessing and collecting statute instead of turning it over to the state.
Stevenson said about $400,000 of the retained funds will be treated as a tax cut, translating into a savings of $7 on a home valued at $100,000.
That is in line with the county's long-term policy of holding the line on property taxes, Stevenson said, a promise made to voters three years ago when they approved a $20 million bond issue to build the new jail and justice complex.
Stevenson said the commissioners, who have been working on the budget since September, also tried to avoid funding programs that will have negative long-term effects.
The budget for 1994 totals $36.8 million, up from just over $34 million for the current year. The general fund totals $18.16 million, up from $17.48 million.
The largest expenditure within the general fund is to run the county jail, which increased from $3.53 million to $3.64 million for the coming year. The remaining operations for the sheriff's department went from $3.2 million to $3.39 million.
The county anticipates its largest source of revenue, property taxes, will bring in $8 million in 1994, up from $7.5 million last year.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Davis County revenue projections
1993 1994
Property tax $7.50 million $8.05 million
Assessing/collecting levy $1.90 million $1.60 million
Personal property $1.10 million $1.23 million
Jail fees $1.27 million $1.00 million
Sales taxes $200,000 $350,000
Recorders fees $525,000 $800,000
Causeway tolls 0 $130,000