Utah House Democrats

Source: Tooele Transcript Bulletin
by Tim Gillie
Feb 25, 2010

A meeting between county leaders and the six state legislators representing the county instead became the Jim Gowans show Wednesday evening, as the county’s longest-serving representative was left alone to field questions on the state budget, depleted uranium and health care reform.

Gowans, D-Tooele, started off the meeting at the state capitol by excusing the other five members of Tooele County’s legislative delegation, saying they were at committee meetings or attending to other legislative business. Sen. Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe, was the only other representative to show and he didn’t arrive until the caucus meeting was about to adjourn.

Much of the discussion focused on the current status of the 2011 budget. Last week, the final revenue forecast figures were available, and this week an initial budget was released by legislative leaders. The budget calls for an across-the-board 5 percent cut in state spending, according to Gowans. The legislature intends to backfill cuts to public education to minimize the impact on schools, but other programs may face drastic cuts. The legislature may use money from the state’s $400 million rainy day fund to fill in cuts to education, Gowans said.

The initial budget does not include Gov. Gary Herbert’s proposed revenue enhancements, such as the elimination of a tax break for large merchants for collecting sales tax and a requirement that income taxes be paid quarterly. These two combined moves would create an additional $145 million in revenue. The governor also suggested freeing up another $75 million by bonding for road projects instead of paying cash — a move the Legislature has also not embraced.

A tobacco tax increase that would create $80 million in revenue is being considered by the Legislature, but the governor is still maintaining a no tax increase posture, according to Gowans.

Bev White, 81, a Tooele resident and self-proclaimed lifelong Democrat who spent 20 years in the Utah House of Representatives representing Tooele County, rose to her feet to praise the Republican governor.

“As a Democrat, I want to praise our Republican governor and thank him for keeping Italian waste out of Tooele,” White said.

White recounted her involvement in selecting a site in the west desert to store the Vitro Chemical Company’s uranium mill tailings from the Salt Lake processing site back in 1968 when the mill was closed.

“It seems like we are getting a lot of stuff we didn’t ask for,” White said. “And I want to let my elected officials know I’m not excited about this.”

Colleen Johnson, Tooele County Commission chairwoman, clarified that the recent trains stopped by the governor were carrying domestic depleted uranium from a U.S. government clean-up project. The proposed waste from Italy would be processed in Tennessee and all that would be coming to Tooele would be ash from the incineration of waste that could not be recycled, according to Johnson. The waste would not be different in any characteristic from the waste currently being accepted at Clive.

“I still am not happy that my local elected officials seem to be welcoming this waste into the county,” White said.

Grant Peterson, agriculture teacher at Grantsville High School, said the joint FFA and 4-H turkey program is in need of a new facility. Currently located in Box Elder county, the building housing the program is privately owned and the owner is selling the building. The FFA and 4-H are looking for a new home for about $10,000 worth of turkey processing equipment. Petersen said they are looking for new home in Tooele County because half of the students in the program come from the county.

Gowans said although he is a supporter of FFA and 4-H, due the budget cuts the legislature would not be able to come up with funds for a new facility this year.

Jerry Edwards, Grantsville senior citizen activist, expressed concerns over the possible loss of federal Medicare funds if the state opts out of federal health care reform as some legislators have suggested it do.

“I need my Medicare and Medicaid,” Edwards said. “I can not find an insurance company that will touch me.”

Hailey Castagno, a sixth-grade student at West Elementary School, stood up and said her teachers said the school were running out of money for basic supplies like paper and pencils, and pleaded for more money for schools.

Gowans said finding that money will be tough.

“Even if we don’t cut the budget for schools, that does not cover the growth of 11,000 expected new students,” Gowans said. “Keeping the budget the same for public education really means a cut when you look at per student income.”