Blog

Utah County Budget

Did you know Utah County’s annual budget exceeds $100 million but they build no new roads, bridges, or wastewater treatment systems? What do they do with your taxes?

  1. Utah County alone comprises 2,144 square miles but due to government regulations, 96% of its citizens must compete for 4% of the land in incorporated cities, making new farms emerge nearly impossible. 
  2. Despite the housing shortage, in 2018 Utah County granted subdivision approval for fewer than twelve lots.
  3. Brigham Young taught that young men should build a 10×10 home and beautify its exterior with flowers and shade trees. Today we call those tiny homes.
  4. Steep Utah home prices are breaking up families, causing children to leave the state.
  5. Underground water rights are time bombs with expiration dates. The Utah Department of Water Rights requires proof of designated use or owners will lose their water rights and must cement up their wells.
  6. Above groundwater shares for flood irrigation are not transferable across canal companies, making them unavailable for most lands west of I-15. 
  7. The United Nations reports flood irrigation has destroyed land worldwide the size of the country of France. Apostle John A. Widtsoe’s solution was dry farming. Few today have heard of or read his book.
  8. Utah County requires twenty times more water for a 5.25-acre lot than is needed for culinary use in a home.
  9. Settling in county lands often requires families to build, pave and dedicate a road because regulations require driveways to connect directly to a county or state road without passing through an inch of private land. Regulators do not permit dead ends, cul-de-sacs, dirt or gravel roads, or to build roads in segments. Our 3/4-mile loop road cost us nearly $700k and then Utah County required we pay another $6k in greenbelt rollback taxes.
  10. Power must be installed. Solar, wind, geothermal solutions are disallowed.
  11. The Utah State Tax Commission and county assessors require farm production plus profit. Considering most food is purchased abroad for multi-national stores, local farmers have limited markets.  Armed with annual aerial photos, county assessors now discover production decencies and then withdraw land from greenbelt status, forcing five years of rollback taxes. We are awaiting a tax hearing to appeal a fine of $69k because the year we had our road built, committed ranchers decided it was too risky for them to graze their animals on our land.
  12. Utah County alone spends $100 million a year but builds no new roads, bridges, or waste-water treatment systems.

Only $3 million is used to upkeep county roads