The topics for the Summit County Council during Wednesday’s regular meeting include trash, taxes and sage grouse.
First off on the council’s agenda, they will take a field trip to the Three Mile Canyon landfill early in the afternoon. County Manager Tom Fisher said that changes at the dump are a big part of the Solid Waste Master Plan.
“One of the things that we’ve been planning on doing for quite a few years and it made it into the master plan as well, is to expand into the next cell of the landfill. Tim Loveday, our landfill director, has been working on that for the past couple of years. It’s quite a long process, and not just the construction of it because it’ll be our first lined cell at that landfill so that it captures leachate and doesn’t allow that to go into the water sources. Also, just the permitting of that takes quite a long time. We’ve got all that part completed and its time for the council to see some of the results of their budgeting.”
The council goes back to the Coalville Courthouse for the rest of their agenda. At about 4:45 they will consider a property tax exemption for Save Our Stage, the non-profit that owns the Egyptian Theatre.
What the group is seeking this week is an exemption for a space they acquired across the street, in the Parkite Building, formerly known as the Main Street Mall. Save Our Stage acquired the space for their Youth Theatre and for Black Box performances.
“I think there’s discussions all the time about the non-profit status and I’ve looked through the report it seems like they’ve got their documentation together to prove the status that they’re in. Of course, it applies to only that suite that the non-profit is operating out of in that building. The rest of the building would still be considered under its current tax structure.”
At 5:15, the council will look at a requested tax refund from Mark Stemler, for a residence in Oldtown. According to Fisher, Stemler sent in an application for the structure to be recognized as a primary residence rather than a higher-taxed secondary home. But there was some kind of mix-up at the assessor’s office about when it came in to the county.
“The council needs to consider that as they decide on whether to give this refund or not.”
KPCW’s Leslie Thatcher in an interview asked Fisher “I’ve heard of other stories where the title company is supposed to take care of it and then for the property owner to come back years later and find out that they’ve been paying non-primary taxes all along. I mean we’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars.”
“It could be,” Fisher replied, “This case is a little different from that. This doesn’t have to do with title companies it has to do with the home being rented. For instance, if you rent a home you can apply on behalf of that renter for primary home status and then you as the homeowner benefit from that.”
After that item, the council will consider approving a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Forest Service and local Utah governments for management of Greater Sage Grouse habitat.
“Essentially, this allows us to be part of the process of development of these policies and plans for the national forest system here in Utah. Our council has always been interested in the Sage Grouse listing and its protection. This is a little different than some of the other areas that are mostly private land that we deal with, with the sage grouse habitat. This is specifically dealing with the national forest system.”
Fisher also said the county, as a cooperating agency under the agreement, can be informed on the process and participate in it.
