FARMINGTON--Commissioners weary of tax issues were cool to a recommendation from the Utah Legislature, via Utah Transit Authority (UTA), for a tax change that could be viewed as a tax increase.

"I'm tired of being set up to be the tax guy," said Davis County Commissioner Louenda Downs. "It seems like all the taxing issues come back here."

The recommended tax change took center stage at the Davis County Commissioning meeting on Tuesday. At stage right were proponents of the tax--Blake Wade, an attorney with Ballard Spahr Andrews and Ingersoll who serves as Bond Counsel for the Utah State Legislature and Bruce Jones of UTA. Stage left were Davis County Commissioners who ex-pressed dismay over the tax and its timing. No action regarding the tax was taken by the commission.

The intent of the tax is to recover revenue lost as a result of the Utah Legislature's decision to remove food from the sales tax base for transit taxes. Their way of making up for the tax loss is to authorize counties to increase first quarter sales tax for transit from .25 to .30. While the legislature sees the removal of sales tax on food and the increase in transit tax as a "net decrease," Davis County Commissioners expect residents to see it otherwise.

"An increase is an increase in people's minds," said Commissioner Brett Millburn. "That's where my angst is." He expressed irritation that the Legislature takes credit for the tax decrease and leaves it to the counties to ask for an increase.

Utah County has already passed the transit tax increase. Salt Lake County is expected to do so next week and Weber and Davis Counties have yet to decide. The Davis County Commission is left with precious little time to decide.

The Utah State Tax Commission is set to remove the sales tax on food Jan. 1, 2008. Without a transit tax increase, Davis County could see a $1.8 million decrease in services from UTA in the next year. "You don't want to be criticized for a decrease in services, whether or not it came from the Legislature," cautioned Jones. The Commissioners asked for more detail from UTA before making a decision.

The new tax issue comes at a time when Commissioners are feeling the heat from residents appealing property tax increases. It also coincides with the highly visible testing of the new UTA FrontRunner commuter trains which can be seen running on a section of track between Pages Lane in Centerville and Old Mill in Kaysville. The $600-million project which connects Salt Lake City with Davis and Weber Counties is seventy-five percent complete and will be officially launched in Spring 2008.

Other topics at the commission meeting included a follow-up report on the Davis County Fair showing an increase in attendance and revenue, with off-setting increases in expenses. "The fair is in its third year and it gets a little better every year. County fairs statewide and nationwide usually lose more each year they succeed, and we are actually making up some ground which is a good trend for us," said Commissioner Millburn.