On November 6th, voters in the Hoytsville area near Coalville will decide if they want to incorporate as a township.
Even if they say yes, one of the proponents of the new town, Bill Wilde, says it will take effort from the citizens to make it work.
The Hoytsville issue is headed for the ballot, since a study commissioned by the state this summer found that a town would be feasible.
But Wilde acknowledged a town with about 450 residents and seven businesses won’t have a lot of revenue to operate on. The study estimated the annual cost would be $35,000.
A mayor and a city council would be unpaid and voluntary positions, at least initially. Wilde said he is willing to fill one of those positions, but he’s not campaigning for it.
They would still look to the county for some of the major services needed by a town.
“The county right now still does law enforcement for all the other cities, Henefer, Oakley, and so forth. They also do snow removal for some of those cities.” Wilde said, “The taxes would go to them obviously to do that, the county.”
The city revenue will also be needed for a few significant staff positions.
“There’s a small amount in there for a planner, there’s a small amount in there for an attorney. Again, it’s a shoe-string budget. There’s not much there.” Wilde explained, “The tax would be the same (as the rate of the county’s municipal service tax). This is all based on the tax remaining the same as it is right now. Obviously, that could be adjusted if we wanted to go through the process to do that.”
A recent public hearing on the feasibility study drew about 60 people. Wilde said the attendees were concerned if a town can work.
“The worst thing that can happen is we have this pass through the vote with a positive vote and then we don’t have people truly understand that there’s a lot of volunteer (work) to it, there’s a lot of issues that will come up.” Wilde continued, “Planning probably being the number one. If that works, it’s going to take a lot of effort from a lot of people. I think the biggest question, that I heard any way, was pertaining to water, pertaining to other services.”
Wilde doesn’t agree with the rumors that a Hoytsville town proposal is being pushed by large property owners who want to develop, free from county regulations.
“Actually, we don’t have any large property owners on the sponsoring committee. Myself, I own my house. We do have Wade Wilde, he personally doesn’t have large land, but his family does.” Wilde said, “Right now, the large family that you may be talking about that’s looking at the large land owners, working with the county right now looking at village overlay that was the same group that looked at annexing into Coalville a year or so ago.”
He said he and other proponents want a new town because Hoytsville needs better representation. Wilde said the East Side is different from the Park City area—noting the different Planning Commissions were set up for those sectors back in the 1990’s. Wilde said he has some objections to the building permit requirements from the county.
“There’s a lot of issues there. Where are my dumpsters located? And during the building process do I need to pay a surveyor $1,200 to draw that on a map to have that done? Should a building permit cost us, on a house over here, $4,000 or $5,000 and take us six months to do?” Wilde explains that having their own planning commission and building department would make that easier “I think there’s rules and regulations that we need, and I think there’s things we don’t need. Yes, it would make it easier. I’m talking Bill Wilde now, nobody else.”
If Hoytsville does decide to begin a new chapter as a town, Wilde cautioned that it’s not going to be easy.
“When you say are things going to be easier? No, it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be hard and it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of effort. In the end it’s worth it, in my opinion. But yea, it’s going to be hard.” Wilde continued, “I’ve beat up on the council for a lot of years, I’ve beat up on the engineering department, I’ve beat up on the building and planning. What they do is hard, and they do a great job but what they do is tough. We’ll have to do that tough job.”
Wilde said he wants the voters to be informed. They will hold a number of community meetings before Election Day. The first is set for September 5th at 6:30 pm in the Mark Judd Community Barn
