This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Last month, the Provo Municipal Council eliminated the requirement that city department heads reside within the city ("Provo drops residency requirements for department heads," Tribune, April 3).
According to the Utah's Right to Know website, 12 Provo city employees make more than $150,000 annually; another 100 make more than $100,000.
Requiring that city employees, especially high-paid employees, live in the town where tax dollars pay their salaries accomplishes several purposes: increasing the city's number of families, having employees with a vested interest in the city and increasing revenue through property and sales taxes.
Provo has a large number of single-adult student residents, a large number of single-parent families and many residents whose second language is English. Thirty-one percent of Provo's residents are below the poverty line.
Consequently, many families, including city employees, prefer to raise their children in communities with less of a college town environment, a smaller urban population, fewer poverty issues and schools with fewer inner city challenges.
But Provo needs the money, stability and family life of its best-paid employees. In fact, the quality of life in all cities would be better if all municipal employees lived in the cities where they work.
Peggy Burdett
Orem