Salt Lake County's police fees may tap churches, too: Businesses will bear the heaviest burden if the new collections come to pass.
By Jeremiah Stettler The Salt Lake TribunePublication: The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
Date: Sunday Jan 10, 2010
Jan. 10--Desperate to cover the cost of policing, Salt Lake County is poised to pass the collection plate to an unorthodox source: churches.
Although shielded from property and sales taxes that typically pay for law enforcement, scores of chapels in Magna, Millcreek and other unincorporated patches soon could find themselves shelling out a $1,000 annual fee for public safety.
That's the uncommon, but not altogether unprecedented, reality that faces the faithful in Utah's most-populous county, where a sputtering economy has sent government scrambling for more money.
Instead of raising property taxes to recover millions for services in the unincorporated county, officials have introduced a police fee that would charge homes, grocery stores, auto dealerships and even churches various amounts, depending on how many law-enforcement calls they have generated historically.
That proposed fee, scheduled for a vote Monday, would reach 170,000 residents and 2,500 businesses in the unincorporated county.
While the commercial community is accustomed to paying taxes for plowing streets, dousing fires and providing other essential services, churches aren't. They are tax-exempt. So when government calls on them to pay for policing -- not as a tax, but as a fee -- those churches are, not surprisingly, surprised.
The Rev. Handi Jo Dolloff-Holt, a pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Kearns, described it as a "direct violation" of the
church's nonprofit status, one that could harm her 300-member congregation.
While $1,000 a year may not seem like much, she wrote in an e-mail, "that is the money I gave to three families in desperate need this Christmas. Next year, I won't have that money to give unless we cut other ministries."
The proposed fee would extend to 41 churches in the unincorporated county, stretching from the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Copperton to the Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church in Millcreek. It also would affect the spattering of chapels belonging to Utah's predominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which declined to comment for this story.
Phil Hughes, pastor of Mount Olympus Presbyterian, said the proposed fee seems a steep price to pay for a service his congregation requests about three times a year -- mainly for parking lot problems.
Jan. 10--Desperate to cover the cost of policing, Salt Lake County is poised to pass the collection plate to an unorthodox source: churches.
Although shielded from property and sales taxes that typically pay for law enforcement, scores of chapels in Magna, Millcreek and other unincorporated patches soon could find themselves shelling out a $1,000 annual fee for public safety.
That's the uncommon, but not altogether unprecedented, reality that faces the faithful in Utah's most-populous county, where a sputtering economy has sent government scrambling for more money.
Instead of raising property taxes to recover millions for services in the unincorporated county, officials have introduced a police fee that would charge homes, grocery stores, auto dealerships and even churches various amounts, depending on how many law-enforcement calls they have generated historically.
That proposed fee, scheduled for a vote Monday, would reach 170,000 residents and 2,500 businesses in the unincorporated county.
While the commercial community is accustomed to paying taxes for plowing streets, dousing fires and providing other essential services, churches aren't. They are tax-exempt. So when government calls on them to pay for policing -- not as a tax, but as a fee -- those churches are, not surprisingly, surprised.
The Rev. Handi Jo Dolloff-Holt, a pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Kearns, described it as a "direct violation" of the
church's nonprofit status, one that could harm her 300-member congregation.
While $1,000 a year may not seem like much, she wrote in an e-mail, "that is the money I gave to three families in desperate need this Christmas. Next year, I won't have that money to give unless we cut other ministries."
The proposed fee would extend to 41 churches in the unincorporated county, stretching from the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Copperton to the Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church in Millcreek. It also would affect the spattering of chapels belonging to Utah's predominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which declined to comment for this story.
Phil Hughes, pastor of Mount Olympus Presbyterian, said the proposed fee seems a steep price to pay for a service his congregation requests about three times a year -- mainly for parking lot problems.
"Those are pretty expensive calls," he said. "Maybe we should just stop calling."
Charging churches for government services isn't an altogether new concept. Chapels are required to pay storm-water fees in some communities to cover the costs of treating rain water that runs off their properties. They also pay franchise fees for electricity, natural gas and telephone service.
"The precedent has already been set," said Salt Lake County Councilman Jim Bradley, who serves on the county's three-member law enforcement district board that will decide whether to impose the fee. "This isn't breaking new ground."
Besides, Bradley said, it makes sense to charge churches for a service they use. It also widens the pool of potential payers, lessening the law-enforcement bill on homes and businesses that also face the fee.
"Everyone who is in the community and uses the service," he said, "probably ought to pay for it."
The proposed fee comes at a troubling economic time for Utah's most-populous county. While the cost of policing actually will drop about 6 percent this year under the newly formed Unified Police Department, the county is looking to raise almost $13 million to plug a hole in its municipal-services budget.
According to the latest fee schedule, which does not apply to cities, homeowners would pay an extra $174 a year.
Businesses would bear a heavier burden, depending on their demand for police service. A tavern would pay more annually than a preschool ($1,044 compared to $588). A big-box lumber store would fork over more than an auto dealership ($13,584 compared to $756). And a Walmart supercenter would pay $81,912.
Businesses and organizations would shoulder an additional fee based on how many employees they have.
The county's highest bill payers would be Kennecott and ATK, with annual tabs of $1.3 million and $100,000, respectively.
One question is whether churches and other nonprofits belong on that list. The bill for churches would be $1,008 a year. Nonprofits that generate less traffic and fewer patrol calls would pay $180.
"We try to have as much money as possible go into our programs," said Carol Coulter, president of the Assistance League. "Anything that detracts from that is less desirable."
However, she called the $180 fee for her organization "reasonable."
But government's decision to draw money from nonprofits worries others, such as Fraser Nelson, executive director of the Community Foundation of Utah and an adjunct professor at the University of Utah.
"These organizations," she said, "already are having a very hard time meeting the demand that they have for ... fundamental emergency-level services."
Jan. 10--Desperate to cover the cost of policing, Salt Lake County is poised to pass the collection plate to an unorthodox source: churches.
Although shielded from property and sales taxes that typically pay for law enforcement, scores of chapels in Magna, Millcreek and other unincorporated patches soon could find themselves shelling out a $1,000 annual fee for public safety.
That's the uncommon, but not altogether unprecedented, reality that faces the faithful in Utah's most-populous county, where a sputtering economy has sent government scrambling for more money.
Instead of raising property taxes to recover millions for services in the unincorporated county, officials have introduced a police fee that would charge homes, grocery stores, auto dealerships and even churches various amounts, depending on how many law-enforcement calls they have generated historically.
That proposed fee, scheduled for a vote Monday, would reach 170,000 residents and 2,500 businesses in the unincorporated county.
While the commercial community is accustomed to paying taxes for plowing streets, dousing fires and providing other essential services, churches aren't. They are tax-exempt. So when government calls on them to pay for policing -- not as a tax, but as a fee -- those churches are, not surprisingly, surprised.
The Rev. Handi Jo Dolloff-Holt, a pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Kearns, described it as a "direct violation" of the
church's nonprofit status, one that could harm her 300-member congregation.
While $1,000 a year may not seem like much, she wrote in an e-mail, "that is the money I gave to three families in desperate need this Christmas. Next year, I won't have that money to give unless we cut other ministries."
The proposed fee would extend to 41 churches in the unincorporated county, stretching from the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Copperton to the Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church in Millcreek. It also would affect the spattering of chapels belonging to Utah's predominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which declined to comment for this story.
Phil Hughes, pastor of Mount Olympus Presbyterian, said the proposed fee seems a steep price to pay for a service his congregation requests about three times a year -- mainly for parking lot problems.
"Those are pretty expensive calls," he said. "Maybe we should just stop calling."
Charging churches for government services isn't an altogether new concept. Chapels are required to pay storm-water fees in some communities to cover the costs of treating rain water that runs off their properties. They also pay franchise fees for electricity, natural gas and telephone service.
"The precedent has already been set," said Salt Lake County Councilman Jim Bradley, who serves on the county's three-member law enforcement district board that will decide whether to impose the fee. "This isn't breaking new ground."
Besides, Bradley said, it makes sense to charge churches for a service they use. It also widens the pool of potential payers, lessening the law-enforcement bill on homes and businesses that also face the fee.
"Everyone who is in the community and uses the service," he said, "probably ought to pay for it."
The proposed fee comes at a troubling economic time for Utah's most-populous county. While the cost of policing actually will drop about 6 percent this year under the newly formed Unified Police Department, the county is looking to raise almost $13 million to plug a hole in its municipal-services budget.
According to the latest fee schedule, which does not apply to cities, homeowners would pay an extra $174 a year.
Businesses would bear a heavier burden, depending on their demand for police service. A tavern would pay more annually than a preschool ($1,044 compared to $588). A big-box lumber store would fork over more than an auto dealership ($13,584 compared to $756). And a Walmart supercenter would pay $81,912.
Businesses and organizations would shoulder an additional fee based on how many employees they have.
The county's highest bill payers would be Kennecott and ATK, with annual tabs of $1.3 million and $100,000, respectively.
One question is whether churches and other nonprofits belong on that list. The bill for churches would be $1,008 a year. Nonprofits that generate less traffic and fewer patrol calls would pay $180.
"We try to have as much money as possible go into our programs," said Carol Coulter, president of the Assistance League. "Anything that detracts from that is less desirable."
However, she called the $180 fee for her organization "reasonable."
But government's decision to draw money from nonprofits worries others, such as Fraser Nelson, executive director of the Community Foundation of Utah and an adjunct professor at the University of Utah.
"These organizations," she said, "already are having a very hard time meeting the demand that they have for ... fundamental emergency-level services."
While the county's approach has attracted plenty of critics -- during a recent public hearing one person described the fee on churches as "abominable" -- the proposal has sympathizers within the pews.
Mario Alejandre, associate pastor of the Salt Lake Christian Center, said he doesn't object to churches -- such as his 400-member congregation -- hefting some of that financial load.
"I don't find fault in [government] trying to be creative," he said, "in how these needs are met."
But across the valley, Dolloff-Holt said she will urge her congregation to oppose it.
"While I am deeply grateful for the service of our police and fire departments," she said, "this is not an appropriate solution to raise funding for their services."
jstettler@sltrib.com
Footing the police bill
People who live and do business in Salt Lake County's unincorporated communities soon could pay more for police protection. The county's law enforcement district board is considering the following fee schedule that would generate about $13 million a year.
Residential Annual fee
Single-family home $174
Duplex $198
Apartments $222
Mobile home $186
Nonresidential Annual fee
Auto dealerships/repair $756
Construction/manufacturing $192
Community grocery $25,104
Supercenters $81,912
Retail/wholesale $444
Big-box lumber $13,584
Drugstores $3,000
Transportation services $264
Jan. 10--Desperate to cover the cost of policing, Salt Lake County is poised to pass the collection plate to an unorthodox source: churches.
Although shielded from property and sales taxes that typically pay for law enforcement, scores of chapels in Magna, Millcreek and other unincorporated patches soon could find themselves shelling out a $1,000 annual fee for public safety.
That's the uncommon, but not altogether unprecedented, reality that faces the faithful in Utah's most-populous county, where a sputtering economy has sent government scrambling for more money.
Instead of raising property taxes to recover millions for services in the unincorporated county, officials have introduced a police fee that would charge homes, grocery stores, auto dealerships and even churches various amounts, depending on how many law-enforcement calls they have generated historically.
That proposed fee, scheduled for a vote Monday, would reach 170,000 residents and 2,500 businesses in the unincorporated county.
While the commercial community is accustomed to paying taxes for plowing streets, dousing fires and providing other essential services, churches aren't. They are tax-exempt. So when government calls on them to pay for policing -- not as a tax, but as a fee -- those churches are, not surprisingly, surprised.
The Rev. Handi Jo Dolloff-Holt, a pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Kearns, described it as a "direct violation" of the
church's nonprofit status, one that could harm her 300-member congregation.
While $1,000 a year may not seem like much, she wrote in an e-mail, "that is the money I gave to three families in desperate need this Christmas. Next year, I won't have that money to give unless we cut other ministries."
The proposed fee would extend to 41 churches in the unincorporated county, stretching from the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Copperton to the Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church in Millcreek. It also would affect the spattering of chapels belonging to Utah's predominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which declined to comment for this story.
Phil Hughes, pastor of Mount Olympus Presbyterian, said the proposed fee seems a steep price to pay for a service his congregation requests about three times a year -- mainly for parking lot problems.
"Those are pretty expensive calls," he said. "Maybe we should just stop calling."
Charging churches for government services isn't an altogether new concept. Chapels are required to pay storm-water fees in some communities to cover the costs of treating rain water that runs off their properties. They also pay franchise fees for electricity, natural gas and telephone service.
"The precedent has already been set," said Salt Lake County Councilman Jim Bradley, who serves on the county's three-member law enforcement district board that will decide whether to impose the fee. "This isn't breaking new ground."
Besides, Bradley said, it makes sense to charge churches for a service they use. It also widens the pool of potential payers, lessening the law-enforcement bill on homes and businesses that also face the fee.
"Everyone who is in the community and uses the service," he said, "probably ought to pay for it."
The proposed fee comes at a troubling economic time for Utah's most-populous county. While the cost of policing actually will drop about 6 percent this year under the newly formed Unified Police Department, the county is looking to raise almost $13 million to plug a hole in its municipal-services budget.
According to the latest fee schedule, which does not apply to cities, homeowners would pay an extra $174 a year.
Businesses would bear a heavier burden, depending on their demand for police service. A tavern would pay more annually than a preschool ($1,044 compared to $588). A big-box lumber store would fork over more than an auto dealership ($13,584 compared to $756). And a Walmart supercenter would pay $81,912.
Businesses and organizations would shoulder an additional fee based on how many employees they have.
The county's highest bill payers would be Kennecott and ATK, with annual tabs of $1.3 million and $100,000, respectively.
One question is whether churches and other nonprofits belong on that list. The bill for churches would be $1,008 a year. Nonprofits that generate less traffic and fewer patrol calls would pay $180.
"We try to have as much money as possible go into our programs," said Carol Coulter, president of the Assistance League. "Anything that detracts from that is less desirable."
However, she called the $180 fee for her organization "reasonable."
But government's decision to draw money from nonprofits worries others, such as Fraser Nelson, executive director of the Community Foundation of Utah and an adjunct professor at the University of Utah.
"These organizations," she said, "already are having a very hard time meeting the demand that they have for ... fundamental emergency-level services."
While the county's approach has attracted plenty of critics -- during a recent public hearing one person described the fee on churches as "abominable" -- the proposal has sympathizers within the pews.
Mario Alejandre, associate pastor of the Salt Lake Christian Center, said he doesn't object to churches -- such as his 400-member congregation -- hefting some of that financial load.
"I don't find fault in [government] trying to be creative," he said, "in how these needs are met."
But across the valley, Dolloff-Holt said she will urge her congregation to oppose it.
"While I am deeply grateful for the service of our police and fire departments," she said, "this is not an appropriate solution to raise funding for their services."
jstettler@sltrib.com
Footing the police bill
People who live and do business in Salt Lake County's unincorporated communities soon could pay more for police protection. The county's law enforcement district board is considering the following fee schedule that would generate about $13 million a year.
Residential Annual fee
Single-family home $174
Duplex $198
Apartments $222
Mobile home $186
Nonresidential Annual fee
Auto dealerships/repair $756
Construction/manufacturing $192
Community grocery $25,104
Supercenters $81,912
Retail/wholesale $444
Big-box lumber $13,584
Drugstores $3,000
Transportation services $264
Professional/business services $252
Hospital services $1,740
Restaurant/food services $756
Fast food $1,692
Convenience store with gas pumps $4,548
Convenience store without gas $1,332
Finance $1,764
Self storage (per unit) $4.20
Adult care/assisted living (per bed) $77.40
Child care/preschool $588
Personal services $228
Nonprofit $180
Entertainment $996
Private clubs/taverns $1,044
Adult-oriented $588
Lodging (per room) $60
Churches $1,008
Note: The county would add an additional fee to businesses or organizations depending on how many employees they have. Those fees range from $72 annually for a business with less than 10 employees to $11,220 a year for an operation with 500 to 999 employees.
Source -- Salt Lake County
What's next
Salt Lake County's law-enforcement district board will decide whether to impose the new police fees Monday at 4 p.m. at the County Government Center, 2001 S. State St.
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