Taxation without representation

Editor:
    I was totally astounded by the comments by our elected Commissioners at the two public meetings recently held to attempt to sell a very unpopular tax increase to the citizens of Carbon County. It was insulting to hear Commissioner Potter tell the audience that this tax increase was all the County Clerk/Auditor’s idea!
Does he actually believe that the citizens of the County are so stupid that they would believe that a mid-level bureaucrat such as Seth Oveson has the authority to increase property taxes? I doubt that Seth could change the thermostat in his office without the approval of the commissioners. He is simply a scapegoat of the commissioners to attempt to lay their mismanagement of Carbon County finances at someone else’s doorstep.
    If you believe that line of political garbage, I guess you deserve the tax increase and the current County Commissioners!
    Personally I strongly advocate a change in the make-up and number of commissioners. We need a five person commission, 2 full time commissioners with full time salaries, and three part time commissioners each receiving 1/3 of the salary and no benefits. We also need representation from the County, the towns of Helper, Wellington and East Carbon, so that any new commission could only have two commissioners from Price City.
    Those of us in the County and surrounding towns are in essence being taxed without representation. Too bad we can’t have a Boston Tea Party – although I am not advocating armed rebellion – I am advocating a change in all levels of County government starting with the Commission in 2018!!
    I was unable to make it to the public hearing, although I watched a portion of it on youtube.com, and I want to congratulate our citizens in the very candid and sage advice they offered the Carbon County Commissioners. (I especially appreciated when Bob Tanner recommended that all three commissioners quit!) Unfortunately, we have to endure at least one more year, at which point I am confident that we can have some positive changes.
    Our firm, EIS, handed out a yellow sheet advocating a number of alternative methods to generate additional dollars, in addition to reducing the current amount of money this commission appears obligated to spend.         It is unfortunate that the majority of people in Carbon County that are prosperous are the people working for Carbon County. They are achieving that at the expense of the rest of us who are trying to make a decent living, and would, if it weren’t for the ridiculous tax burden we are currently paying.
    Another point I would like to make is that I find it laughable when the commission indicated that 7 counties in Utah have higher taxes. The truth is that the property in Carbon County is assessed, in many cases, 300% higher than it is worth. Case in point… I owned a building assessed at $350,000, which sold for $125,000, and to be honest I felt that I received a fair price. If you factor in the absurd assessment of our properties at two or three times their real value, I am sure we pay a much higher tax than those 7 counties that supposedly have higher taxes.
    I suppose that truth in politics is just a myth!
Mel Coonrod
Carbon County