August 25, 2008
The People Have Spoken
by Mayor Peter Corroon, Salt Lake County
The people have spoken. Not
all of the people and they
haven’t addressed all of the
issues, but for the most part,
property owners and residents
in the unincorporated areas
and our six townships appear
to be content living in the
unincorporated areas of Salt
Lake County with county government
serving as their local municipal
government.
The Utah State Legislature
three years ago, under the
provisions of House Bill 40
(HB 40), mandated a process
for Salt Lake County to survey
citizens in the unincorporated
area to determine what primary
local government they want.
Unincorporated residents live
either within six unincorporated
townships (Copperton, White
City, Emigration Canyon, Millcreek,
Kearns & Magna) or other
areas outside of both townships
and cities. The survey, which
included both a mail survey
and phone survey, was conducted
by the Center for Public Policy &
Administration at the University
of Utah.
The results surprised me and
many others. The phone survey
results showed that:
- 49.47% of respondents
want to remain as townships
- 16.36% want to remain
in the unincorporated
county, not as a township
- 14.03% want to annex
into existing cities
- 5.86% want to incorporate/form
their own city
- 2.25% chose another
solution
- 11.98% didn’t answer
or didn’t know
For the mail-in survey, the
results showed that:
- 59.88% of respondents
want to remain as a township
- 13.39% want to remain
unincorporated, not in
a township
- 15.27% want to annex
into existing cities
- 6.09% want to incorporate/form
their own city
- 1.68% want some other
solution
- 3.69% didn’t answer
or didn’t know
The results show between 66%
and 73% of respondents prefer
their status as residents
of Salt Lake County’s unincorporated
area, either inside township
boundaries or outside those
boundaries. Services provided
to our unincorporated area
include trash collection,
recycling, Sheriff’s policing,
planning and zoning, snow
removal, and street maintenance.
These municipal-type services
are funded by property taxes
paid by property owners within
the unincorporated area.
So we have the results of
the survey; it’s been presented
to the nine cooperating municipalities
and the six unincorporated
townships and community councils.
The next step is working with
the legislature to determine
the future of the county unincorporated
service area. The Township
statute ends in 2010. HB 40
envisioned a process that
would give the legislature
critical information to make
determinations of what steps
it should take to address
local governance in Salt Lake
County. So, with that survey
in hand, I plan to support
a resolution at the legislature
that protects the townships.
The survey was the first item
mandated by the HB 40 legislation.
The second was for the County
and the 9 participating cities
to work together to create
an implementation plan based
on the results of the survey.
I support that same group,
the Working Committee (5 city,
5 township, and 2 county representatives)
create that plan.
This legislatively-mandated
survey makes a strong case
for self determination for
residents and property owners
in Salt Lake County’s unincorporated
areas. That’s the message
I hope to take to Capitol
Hill during the next legislative
session. I also encourage
our partner cities in this
HB 40 process to join us in
a collaborative effort to
support the survey results.
See the Survey
Background and Frequently
Asked Questions
Go to the HB40 Survey Website
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