Less than two weeks after the Utah Legislature adopted a bill that would dissolve the state's 15 townships, representatives of those entities demonstrated Monday at the State Capitol in hopes that Gov. Mike Leavitt will veto the bill.
Among the group of about 30 people who stood in the Capitol Rotunda in opposition to HB363 was Kathy Orrack, who lives in the Hooper township near Roy. The people of Hooper won a super-majority last August to form a township that began functioning Jan. 1, 1997.But Hooper's fledgling Planning and Zoning Committee has suspended its activities since the Legislature passed the bill that would abolish the Hooper township and 14 others that passed last year.
"We devoted a lot of time to learn what we needed to function" as a Planning Committee, Orrack said. "We thought all was good, now we are in limbo."
Everyone at the Wednesday rally was pinning their hopes on the governor's veto pen making an appearance. The governor, though, has not taken a public position on the controversial bill.
Bill Finch, who lives in the unincorporated area that attempted to form the Holladay township last year, says this whole issue comes down to money. Finch said that without a township, the unincorporated areas of the county will continue to be bitten off by cities looking to expand their commercial tax base.
And if annexation continues to shrink the county's tax base, then residents of that area will have to pick up the tab.
"The only reason we worked for a township," Finch said, "was to protect our borders."