This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Millcreek is now choosing between two forms of local government. For many voters, the choice comes down to one key issue: Who will keep control of our local taxes and spending after the county council relinquishes control at the end of 2016?

Unfortunately, contradictory information is being spread about that key question. Residents are wondering which side to believe.

Luckily, you don't have to believe either of the opposing campaigns. The answer is a matter of law. Salt Lake County's official Voter Information Pamphlet, page 6, provides the following under the column "Metro Township Option":

"Who makes local sales tax decisions?"

"If residents vote 'yes' to be in the MSD, the combined areas' sales tax is spent by the MSD Board."

"Who has budgeting authority for local municipal services?"

"If residents vote 'yes' to be in the MSD, the MSD Board has budgeting authority."

More at http://www.slco.org/community-preservation/information-toolbox/, then select "Detailed Townships Comparison Chart."

The above statements are clear: If Millcreek joins the MSD, our local sales taxes will be pooled with the other townships' taxes, and budgeting authority will be in the hands of the MSD board.

We believe that a significant majority of Millcreek voters don't want to pool Millcreek's local taxes with other townships and put them under control of the MSD board on which Millcreek would have a minority vote.

We believe a locally elected Millcreek City Council is the most responsive forum for keeping Millcreek's local taxing and spending under control.

The pro-MSD campaign must likewise sense the unpopularity of pooling and surrendering control of our taxes. Unfortunately, their strategy is to publish a fictional account.

They are telling Millcreek voters that if we are in the MSD, "our Millcreek Township council will have full budgetary and financial control for Millcreek expenditures" (their website); "a Millcreek Metro Township Council will have full budgetary control for the Millcreek municipal services and expenditures for Millcreek" (online post 16 Oct); "The Township Council, with the MSD in place oversees our municipal services, will have budgetary responsibility" (widely distributed email October 14; similar language appeared in a large color brochure mailed to thousand of Millcreek households in early October). Sources and full legal review at http://www.independentmillcreek.org/truth-about-msd-board.

This isn't a side issue. This is the core issue — who will keep local taxes under control? The pro-MSD campaign falsely asserts that the Millcreek council will have control if we join the MSD.

Worse, in a bizarre Putin-esque tactic, they accuse the pro-city campaign of lying about this key issue. In a 16 October post to the "Nextdoor" website, Roger Dudley, a leader of the pro-MSD campaign, said:

"A Millcreek Township Council will have full budgetary control for the Millcreek municipal services and expenditures for Millcreek. To suggest otherwise is a gross fabrication, and the pro-city people know this."

In two short sentences, he falsely states that the township council would have "full budgetary control," then accuses "the pro-city people" of lying about that very fact!

This could be excused as a mistake if it weren't for the fact that Dudley served on the Salt Lake County external communications committee that drafted and approved the following accurate, neutral language published repeatedly by the County:

"If residents vote 'yes' to be in the MSD, the MSD Board has budgeting authority" (source cited above).

A true community must be built on the basis of trust. Millcreek voters need to determine whether the pro-MSD campaign is deserving of any trust after their repeated publication of blatantly false statements about this central issue.

We acknowledge that the MSD makes sense for the other townships. They need the extra revenues from Kennecott and the ski resorts to cover their tax shortfalls. They can stand together without Millcreek's help. We wish them well.

The MSD doesn't make sense for Millcreek. Our tax revenues are greater than the cost of our services. We need no subsidy. There's no reason for Millcreek to give up our independence and pool our taxes with the other townships.

We call on the pro-MSD campaign to explain why they believe an MSD board from six townships is better qualified to control our local taxes than a council of Millcreek residents. Why don't they trust the judgment of their fellow Millcreek residents, but do trust the judgment of people from other communities?

Even if they don't trust their fellow Millcreek residents, they should at least show us enough respect to tell us the truth about the MSD they're trying to get us into.

Fred Healey is chair of Millcreek Neighbors for Representative Government.