Salt Lake City intends to almost double its size by annexing the entire east side of the valley, and that's creating jitters among other cities.
Mayor Deedee Corradini recently sent a letter to the Salt Lake County Commission reaffirming Salt Lake City's "annexation policy declaration" stating its intentions to annex most of the area east of 1300 East and north of Creek Road (about 8000 South).The annexation policy declaration has largely lain moribund since its adoption in 1979. Many city officials and council members haven't been familiar with its contents, or even known that it existed. As director of Management Services Roger Black put it, "It's been off the radar screen."
But recent rumblings about wall-to-wall cities have brought it back, and that has put Murray officials in a confrontational mood. Murray is eyeing annexation to the east to Highland Drive -- encroaching on Salt Lake City's intended territory.
Now Sandy officials, hearing about Murray's intent, say they too would like to annex, farther north beyond Creek Road, also conflicting with Salt Lake City.
"Cities are becoming more aggressive on their own," County Commission Chairwoman Mary Callaghan said with a twinkle in her eye.
The reason for her cheeriness: Callaghan herself has been the cause of the unrest. A few months ago, in her position as president of the Salt Lake County Council of Governments, she spearheaded a new look at the wall-to-wall cities proposal in Salt Lake County.
With a spate of recent annexations and incorporations gobbling up commercial tax base, the county is being carved up with the juicy, tax-rich pieces going to new or expanded cities. A consultant hired by Salt Lake County last month (for $72,000) is now looking at the financial impacts and general feasibility of incorporating all areas, including tax-poor residential areas such as Kearns, in various scenarios.
Incorporation or annexation usually means higher taxes. If Salt Lake City successfully annexes the territory it has laid claim to, for example, residents' taxes will surely go up, although that will be mitigated in some cases by lower fees in other areas such as water. Specific figures are still being examined.
There's considerable uncertainty about the Salt Lake City School District -- whether it could legally expand with Salt Lake City's borders or whether the annexed areas would continue to be part of Granite School District. The question has gained more importance recently with a recent court decision awarding the Salt Lake district millions in controversial "flyover" taxes.
The unearthing of the wall-to-wall cities proposal has Salt Lake officials nervous, and thus Corradini's letter. Her primary concern: water.
Over the past 100 years, and longer, Salt Lake City has built up millions of dollars' worth of water infrastructure -- pipelines, distribution systems, treatment plants -- on the east side of the valley. Allowing that to fall within the boundaries of other cities would, according to city public utilities director LeRoy Hooten, create vast confusion, affect efficiency and operations, and create legal problems.
"Salt Lake City has a major investment in water infrastructure, water assets and water rights in that area," he said.
The explanation of the problems involved gets one hopelessly entangled among the vast intricacies of Utah water law, but here's a simplified explanation: If an area on the east side incorporates and wants to control its own water supply and distribution, it would have to take it from Salt Lake City. But the state constitution forbids municipalities from selling water rights to anyone else, meaning that, like it or not, those rights belong to Salt Lake City and no one else, forever.
There would also be daunting logistical problems: How to carve out only a portion of a smooth-flowing system that is intended to work as a whole?
But, you say, what of the recent Holladay-Cottonwood incorporation vote, which concerns territory smack-dab in the middle of the disputed east side?
Hooten says things should be OK there because Holladay-Cottonwood intends simply to contract with Salt Lake City for water delivery, basically maintaining the status quo.
Should water alone determine city boundaries? Hooten thinks so. "In the west, water is gold," he said. "It's the most important thing we have."
Complicating matters is the fact that the Salt Lake City Council is not totally on board with this thing, because the council members who approved the annexation policy declaration are long gone. Current Councilman Tom Rogan, especially, is hesitant about the idea because of the costs it might entail.
This whole exercise of cities deciding who gets what unincorporated area may well turn out to be irrelevant anyway. According to current law, only residents -- not cities -- can decide whether they want to initiate an annexation petition and which city they want to be a part of.
Callaghan tried and failed to change that in the last legislative session.
"I guess I just think it should be their (unincorporated residents') choice," fellow commissioner Mark Shurtleff said. "Most of these people like living in the county."