Community members attended the Uintah County Commission meeting on Monday concerned with the 2017 Certified Tax Rates included on the agenda. Clerk/Auditor Mike Wilkins presented a rate of .002982 which would bring in $13 million 800 thousand dollars to the county to meet the county’s obligations. This is the same amount collected as last year but the rate has gone up slightly from .002874 to make up for a loss in centrally assessed taxes. This increases the cost to property owners by $6 dollars on a $100,000 dollar home or $11 dollars on a $100,000 dollar business. Wilkins also explained that over 40 percent of the $13.8 million dollars comes from the top 10 taxpayers in the County which include big names like Anadarko, QEP, and Newfield. Once you add the rest of centrally assessed taxes it covers 60 percent of the $13.8 million dollar budget. The Commission allowed for public comment and retired CPA Jim Drollinger spoke first emphasizing that the County needs to recognize that the economy is in a depression and budget cuts must be made rather than increase the taxes. Other community members echoed similar strong beliefs. The Commissioners decided to hold a public hearing for Monday, June 19th, during the next Commission meeting, before making a decision on the tax rate. The county must provide an answer to the state by Thursday, June 22nd, or the state will simply assign the Certified Tax Rate.
