Fox 13: Kearns residents surprised, angered over police fees

KEARNS - A new bill for the increase in police fees is expected to arrive for property owners in unincorporated areas. A crowd of angry residents had the opportunity to ask council members and sheriff questions in the last of three open houses Thursday night. Despite extensive news coverage and packed public comment hearings, many were caught off guard by a flyer in the mail announcing the additional fee.

"I'm fine with paying taxes for it but i'm not fine paying an additional fee and an additional tax that is disproportionate to some citizens of Salt Lake County, relative to others," Gregory Von Ax said.

Salt Lake County lost 30 percent in sales revenue in the recession and a $13 million dollar hole was left even after all the budget cuts. "We've crunched that budget down to the bare bones and now we're at a place where we have to provide law enforcement to our community and we have to pay for it," Jim Bradley from the Salt Lake County Council said.

The police fee bills will arrive March 1. The cities within the county will not get the bill because residents pay the fee with a tax on utilities. The legislature is considering a bill that will allow the county to do the same thing.

Corroon proposes Utah clunkers rebate program

Remember the massive failure of a government program that was Cash for Clunkers?

White House blows a gasket on Clunkers critique
The Cash for Clunkers program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel economy requirements. A total of $3 billion was allotted for those rebates.

The average rebate was $4,000. But the overwhelming majority of sales would have taken place anyway at some time in the last half of 2009, according to Edmunds.com. That means the government ended up spending about $24,000 each for those 125,000 additional vehicle sales.

Mayor Peter Corroon announced his plan to institute a Utah cash for clunkers program to continue promoting taxpayer unfriendly policies in the state of Utah.

Corroon proposes Utah clunkers rebate program
August 5th, 2010 @ 3:33pm
By Brock Vergakis, AP Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Peter Corroon is proposing a rebate program for those who trade in older cars for lower-emission vehicles as part of his plan to clean up Utah's environment.

Corroon released his environmental plan Thursday, saying Utah Gov. Gary Herbert hasn't done enough to improve the state's frequently dirty air or ward off other environmental threats.

"I just don't think there's a commitment there. I think our current governor sees economic development and preserving our quality of life and the environment differently, where I think you can have both. You don't need to choose one over the other," he said.

Herbert campaign spokesman Don Olsen disputed that assertion, saying Herbert believes protecting the environment and promoting economic development are related.

"We could not agree more with Mr. Corroon that quality of life and economic development are not mutually exclusive. It's part of the governor's plan now, it was part of his predecessor's plan and is going to be part of the governor's plan in the future," Olsen said.

Corroon did not say how large a rebate he is proposing or how he would pay for it. However, his plan does reference a similar program in California that offers $1,000 per vehicle to those failing a smog check when funds are available.

Other parts of environmental proposals were more detailed.

Corroon is calling for raising air quality standards so that cars sold in Utah would be required to be 30 percent more efficient, on average, by 2016. Most of Utah's air quality problems are caused by automobiles. In the winter, it is not uncommon for northern Utah to be home to worst the air quality in the nation.

Corroon's plan also calls for promoting "buy local" programs that would reduce vehicle emissions. He's advocating for free or reduced-fare bus routes to farmers' markets on market days as well as increasing efforts to link residents to local farm products.

Other parts of his plan to improve air quality include ensuring connectivity between new highway and public transit systems, expanding trail systems for walking and bicycling, and converting as many state-owned vehicles as possible to run on compressed natural gas.

Corroon believes Herbert is vulnerable on environmental issues and stepped up his criticism of the first-year governor on Thursday, saying Herbert's environmental record deserves a grade of C or D.

He said Herbert failed to lead when it came to opposing the disposal of depleted uranium in the state's western desert without proper environmental assurances, was too willing to give up valuable water rights to Nevada and was mistaken to veto a bill that would have automatically enrolled power customers in a power-saving program.

Olsen said Corroon failed to mention that Herbert supports the "Cool Keeper" program and encourages its use, but he just opposed requiring customers to sign up for it.