Letter To The Editor Re: Proposed Rec Center

  

To The Editor:

I was on my computer today and surfed over to the “vote.utah.gov” website so I could read and educate myself regarding the three proposed amendments to the Utah constitution that we will vote on in a few weeks. I wanted to understand the issues and I read through both “arguments FOR” and “arguments AGAINST” each of the three proposals. Each opinion, either “for” or “against”, had written rebuttals and this information really helped me to make up my mind on how I would vote on these proposals.

While still on the “vote.utah.gov” website, I looked under the “Town of Garden City, Utah Bond Election” in order to see what the wording on that topic would be. Well, right there, front and center, was a letter “FOR” this bond election signed by The Mayor and Town Council. This is what really prompted me to write this letter to the Rich Civic Times. The $6.3 million dollar Garden City Bond election for a proposed community center, is a hot topic in town lately, and one which Garden City residents, who are registered to vote in Garden City, will also have the opportunity to vote on during November’s election. If someone goes to the “vote.utah.gov” website and reads about the Garden City Bond Election, they would be led to believe that no one is opposed to borrowing $6.3 million dollars to construct a community center!

Now I know for 100% certainty that the entire Town Council is NOT in favor of borrowing $6.3 million dollars to fund this proposed community center and I feel that should have been stated in the letter to show what the margin of vote was on Town Council. If you don’t believe me, just look or listen to the minutes of the Town Council meetings and you can see who was or was not in favor of it. However, what really upset me was a statement in this same letter that said, “no AGAINST arguments have been submitted”. I thought to myself, “how could this be”? Surely, if I would have known that I could have submitted a written argument “against”, I would have.

Three public meetings have been held regarding commenting on the proposed community center. I attended the second and third meetings. At the second meeting I would estimate that of the people attending the meeting, approximately 80% were against and 20% were for the proposed community center. At the last meeting, I would estimate that approximately half were against it and half were for it.

I phoned the Lieutenant Governor’s office and explained what I observed at the public meetings. I was told that the “Town of Garden City”, who hosted the meetings, was ultimately responsible for posting the deadlines of where and when to submit written comments that would show up on the “vote.utah.gov” website. Now, I admit my memory is not perfect by any means, but I surly would have submitted a written comment if I had known about it. Next, I went to the Garden City offices and asked and was told they “posted the announcements in the legal locations where they had to”. I asked if it was ever posted on the announcement board at the Garden City Post Office The answer was, “they were not sure”. Well, if you are like the majority of Garden City residents, this pretty much is the official information board for happenings in Garden City (announcements of town council meeting, planning and zoning meetings, and other town boards, along with Town of Garden City hiring announcements, and even Rich County official meetings, tax breaks for seniors, etc. are ALWAYS posted there). So, this begs the question as to why it was not posted (no pun intended) at the Post Office where all the typical town announcements are posted? Sure, there are some rather obscure websites that have public meeting announcements, where it was indeed posted where written comments could be submitted regarding the community center, but why not have this information at, arguably, the most prominent and most used place in town? Why was this not stated at the informational public meetings regarding the proposed community center in the first place? These meetings were conducted by the Town Manager and this obviously appears to be sneaky, yet it likely was ‘legal” in regards to having no negative comments about the proposed community center.

In my opinion, this would be a huge tax burden for 20 years on the full-time Garden City residents (fortunately, anyone outside the city limits, this does not pertain to you). Especially, for the people who have secondary homes within the Garden City town borders.

With that, here are some of my “unofficial” reasons/arguments why I am “AGAINST” the proposed community center:

Enhanced Recreation and Health Benefits: The supporters of the proposal say it will provide all residents with an ‘affordable’ place for recreation. I counter that we live in the heart of a recreation area where there are countless opportunities for recreation and exercise at all times of the year. I think using what we have right in front of us (trails, swimming pool, Bear Lake Community Health Center gym, LDS church gyms, etc.) provide low or NO cost alternatives.

Individual Resident Costs: The supporters say it will only increase the tax burden on residents by about $13 per month. That number, I feel is misleading. That cost is ONLY for residents who reside here in Garden City as their primary residence. Their residence is only taxed at 45% of the assessed value. The people who have secondary homes in the borders of Garden City are taxed at 100% on their valuations, so they would pay more than double that. Even being taxed at $13 a month costs $3,120 over 20 years. This is money you could put towards your child’s education, health care costs, or is money that is extremely important for seniors on fixed incomes. In addition to paying increased taxes, you will then have to pay $30+/month for membership to gain access to the community center!

City’s Finances: Although the city does have an excellent bond rating and is fairly strong financially at this time, the bond proposal is for borrowing the entire amount that the community center will cost to construct. I suggested that if the center is something the town residents want, then the city should save for a few years in anticipation of this huge expenditure and then put money down on the center and only borrow part of the construction cost.

Location: The proposed location is indeed next to the city offices and handy for the public, but the proposed community center is large and looks rather cramped for space on the lot next to the city offices. If the community center was built on the large lot the city just purchased north of the Garden City Community Fishing Pond, it would not only fit more comfortably, but perhaps other outdoor recreation activities could be incorporated adjacent to the building such as an outdoor track/field area. This would be especially important if the intention is to lease the building to a school in the future as stated in the letter of support.

In closing, I support the idea of the community center. It would be a nice addition to the city, but the proposal to finance this elaborate community center on the backs of the few Garden City residents, without putting any money down, is something that we cannot afford at this particular time. In addition, I believe the town would be better served with a community center in a better location that allows for other options in the future.

Scott A. Tolentino

Garden City