A $24.8 million general obligation bond to pay for a 400-bed jail expansion tops the list as Proposition 1.

Nearly two years after triggering a public outcry by proposing a 138 percent tax increase to pay for the jail and other county needs, county commissioners insist the giant tax hike was not a publicity stunt to get taxpayers to settle for a smaller sum.

"There were lots of contributing factors," Commissioner Dannie McConkie says. "We were told that, with the interest rates being what they were two years ago, we could save a lot of money by going with the revenue bond. But the people said, 'Step back and take another look at this.' And so we did."

Officials contend that the overcrowding at the nearly decade-old jail has worsened to the point that some inmates are being released early.

The $24.8 million bond officials are asking voters to approve essentially will extend the current jail bond that is set to expire in 2006 since it will cost taxpayers the same amount. The current bond costs about $15 a year on a $167,000 home.

"It's a tax increase," McConkie concedes. "We can't say it isn't because if this bond doesn't go through, taxes will go down by about $15. But we've committed to people to not make it any harder on them than it already is."

That will change in two years, McConkie warns, when the new 400-bed wing of the jail opens. Officials will need to raise taxes - by another $35 a year on a $167,000 home - to staff and operate the facility, which also will include larger kitchen and laundry areas.

"Nobody likes jails until they get their house burglarized or their property stolen and then they have zero tolerance for crime," McConkie says. "That's a core function of country government, and that's what we are trying to provide."

RAP tax: Before commissioners agreed to put a Recreation, Arts and Parks (RAP) tax on the ballot, all 15 Davis County cities had to provide a detailed plan of how the money would be spent. The result is Proposition 2.

"We think of this as a win-win for the residents," says Michael Bouwhuis, spokesman for Citizens for a Stronger Davis County, which is campaigning for the tax. "It's a use tax - 10 cents out of every $100 - that will greatly improve the livability of our community.

If approved, the 0.10 percent sales tax is expected to bring in $3.2 million a year.

Proponents paint a picture of interconnecting trails crisscrossing the county along with cultural and performing arts facilities providing year-round entertainment. One percent of the RAP revenue would be used to administer the program.

Forty-five percent of the RAP revenue would go into a fund that would be divvied up to arts groups, which would have to apply and qualify for annual appropriations.

The remainder would be distributed to the 15 cities, based on their populations, to be spent on recreation programs. Bountiful is encouraging cities in the South Davis Recreation District to use RAP funds to help pay operation and maintenance costs on a recreation center. In the northern half of the county, Syracuse, for example, hopes to tap the money for a trail system.

Fluoride: The roots of Proposition 3 date back to the 2000 election, when a measure to add fluoride to the public water supply passed by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.

Since then, cities and water agencies have pumped thousands of dollars into equipment to get fluoride flowing. But all that investment has not doused the dispute.

Fluoride opponents gathered signatures and persuaded commissioners to put the measure back on the 2004 ballot.

"A lot of people feel like this was pushed through in a hurry," says Layton resident Lorna Rosenstein, spokeswoman for WaterWatch Utah. "This is as much about an individual's right to choose for themselves as it is about a man-made chemical that many believe to be toxic and, as it turns out, more expensive than we were told it would be."

Proponents note cities already have made a big investment and that the Davis County Health Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many dentists endorse fluoride.

lorib@sltrib.com