Mary Callaghan claims that Salt Lake County has imposed a special tax for park development. She is wrong. What the county has done - at Commissioner Jim Bradley's urging - is require developers to pay a small impact fee on the new houses they build, with the proceeds to be used for the development of neighborhood parks. This way, taxpayers will not be burdened with the cost of new park development, requests for which always follow the creation of a new subdivision. (Some developers even advertise parks as part of their sales pitch to homebuyers, who are unaware the parks are yet to be funded.)
Callaghan's opposition to the park impact fee is just a sellout to a handful of influential developers who liked things just fine the way they used to be - build expensive housing, advertise a neighborhood park as part of the package (and price) and then flood the County Commission with complaints until the park is built using everyone else's tax dollars.W. Odell
Salt Lake City