The Carbon County Commissioners took time at its Wednesday meeting to review and possibly adopt proposed tax rates for a number of departments. County clerk Seth Oveson discussed this with commissioners, stating that these rates run with the certified tax rate and the tax cycle that runs from January until the end of May.
At that time, the rates can be reviewed and values may be set. From there, the auditor then calculates to provide tax entities within the same nominal dollars or amount of revenue from the past, taking in account changes in evaluation. The rates proposed were slightly different from prior years but will generate the same tax revenue.
The departments are the county’s general levy, which is broken between general operations and health and was proposed at just over $5,500,000. The municipal services levy came in at $300,672 and the county assessing and collecting was a proposed $896,408. Oveson then recommended that the commission adopt the certified tax rate and informed them that they can adopt anything up to that rate but not above. This was approved by the commissioners.
A public hearing was also hosted during the commission meeting regarding vacating Oliver Lane as a public right of way. A prepared draft ordinance was presented and it was explained that the vacating was considering due to the public at large not being served by the road. The road is a dead end that does not lead to any public lands.
There are approximately five owners of property joined to the road and the title report stated that all of the owners have a legal right to access their properties along the road. Another reason for vacating the road is the fact that the county has a difficult time laying asphalt on the road or clearing snow.
One homeowner came forward to speak with the commissioners, stating that they have run into problems with a neighbor on the road in the past and the particular neighbor now plans to erect a gate on the road once it is no longer a public road. This creates personal issues as well as safety issues and other pending problems for owners using the road daily.
Upon listening to the homeowner’s concerns, Commissioner Chair Casey Hopes stated that he does worry about putting a burden on the individuals of the road and wishes for the commissioners to do more research on rights, cost and the like before making a final decision.
A motion was made to table the issue for a later decision pending research. This issue will be re approached during the scheduled July 3 commission meeting, which was changed from its usual day due to the upcoming holiday.