The opening of the 2008 Utah Legislature is just six weeks away, and Commissioners have their antennae up for bills that would impact Davis County. "There are a whole slew of things that have been talked about. I know that people are looking at legislation on all spectrums of the property tax issues," said Commissioner Louenda Downs, speaking from the Utah Association of Counties (UAC) conference in St. George.

"I have heard about a number of possible bills that may come forth -- ones that would be similar to a Proposition 13 on one end of the scale, and ones that would address the problems, the limitations to do with the Circuit Breaker."

She described the historic Proposition 13 in California as a "public outcry, a referendum from the citizenry" on property tax issues, but cautioned that it had unintended consequences.

"Before any legislation is drafted that may go down that same road, we must be very careful and look into the future and make sure that we're not doing knee jerk reactions to situations that happen in particular years."

A circuit breaker is a tax relief tool designed to prevent property tax "overload" just like an electric circuit breaker. When a property tax exceeds a certain percentage of a taxpayer's income, the circuit breaker reduces property taxes in excess of this "overload" level.

Commissioner Downs is with fellow Davis County Commissioners Alan Hansen and Brett Millburn in St. George at the annual meeting of the Utah Association of Counties (UAC). She said other issues discussed at the conference include an accreditation program for elected officials, public land issues, legislative issues, as well as the methamphetamine epidemic in Utah.





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