This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Draper • With what critics call reckless haste, the City Council is moving swiftly to distance itself from direct oversight of a controversy-riven special-service district by creating a new residents' board to guide it.
Nineteen residents of the Suncrest/Traverse Ridge neighborhood had applied for slots on the five-member board by the Friday noon deadline — less than 72 hours after the City Council voted unanimously to authorize its creation. Plans call for Mayor Troy Walker to select five members and, with consent of the City Council, install them Tuesday night.
he ordinance "essentially turns control of the district over to this board … to determine the budget and services they want to provide," City Manager David Dobbins said. "My concern is that we have snow flying soon and we have a set amount of money in the general fund for snow plowing."
However, Dobbins said the City Council will still have to approve the raising or levying of the district's taxes.
The move to shift control of the district away from the Council comes about two weeks after residents won the right in the Utah Supreme Court to hold a referendum vote on repealing the district budget set earlier this year by the Council.
Dobbins said Friday he couldn't comment on the need for such speed in putting district finances in the hands of a new Traverse Ridge Special Service District board. "That's what the City Council wanted to do," is all he would say.
Phone and email messages for Mayor Troy Walker, who also serves as chairman of the City Council, were not immediately returned.
A spokeswoman for residents who organized the referendum effort issued a statement decrying the speed of the transition as reckless.
"This administrative control board process should have been undertaken in a methodical way, allowing for maximum participation to achieve the best outcome. This is not a process that should have been rushed," said Christine McClory.
"Draper city is attempting to absolve itself of the functions for which it receives property tax dollars. The district is fully within Draper city, and therefore receives all city services, including snow removal," she said. "School buses full of children regularly travel these mountain roads, and the city is essentially stating that the full weight and responsibility for the service and conditions of these roads will be left to rest upon the shoulders of these new board members."
Some 1,200 households within the district pay a special tax on top of their regular city property tax to cover the extra costs of snow removal and road maintenance in the area, which is at a higher elevation than the rest of Draper. Residents acknowledge their services are more expensive and they should be paying extra, but many have questioned the size of their district tax bills.
City Councilman Bill Colbert, a resident of the district, has encouraged a swift transition to a new board.
"We need to make sure they know and understand what they're fully responsible for, so that they can set a proper budget," Colbert said.
If the Nov. 4 referendum passes, the board will have no authority to set a new certified tax rate, but will have access to $1.7 million left unspent from the district's previous budget.