FARMINGTON—Newly elected commissioner John Crofts held an open house recently to meet with the community and answer questions with the intention of being better connected with Davis County residents. Crofts went through a series of slides explaining how the county works, its size and population, etc. and then turned to the audience for questions.

“Are there strings attached to stimulus money?” asked one woman. 

Thanks for the question, said Crofts. “Yes, grant money usually always has conditions tied to it. So if we get grant money we can’t do with it what we want. First our controller can attest to that.”

So yeah, there was a lot of stimulus money received and a lot of that stimulus money won’t be there in the future, he said. “So we’re going to have to look at some tough things in the future.” “With the anticipation that the stimulus money will be reduced, are there actions we should start taking now as opposed to sometimes just a long duration where you can actually reduce the infrastructure and personnel?” another resident said. 

The county does have some reserves, Crofts said. “Right now, we’re not at the crisis moment. You can cut services. You can also raise taxes. You can also do a third option, which they did after WWII in the Great Depression. They wanted to stimulate the economy and they moved all the money down into the middle and they started making the big economic engine move faster and faster and faster.” 

Crofts said he’s hopeful the Western Sports Park will bring a lot of additional revenue to the county and for communities as well. “So if that’s not enough, then you have to look at this, we can’t not have a balanced budget. We’re not the federal government, we're the county. We have to live within our means.”

“Where can we cut spending?” said one resident.

“Well, right now that’s not just a question in the county that we’re wrestling and grappling with, that's a question that we’re wrestling and grappling with as a country and cuts can bring in some pain and angst with everybody,” said Crofts. “Is it possible to tighten your belt? It’s always possible to tighten your belt. I know that personally. So I’ve had some lean years. I think most of us have had those lean years and I think it’s important that we take a very careful look at this.”

Davis County has 370,000 people, he said. “We have a lot of seniors now. We have a lot of people that are aging and going into retirement.”

A lot of people are hurting, Crofts said. “Do we raise taxes? I mean $15 is not a lot, $50 is not a lot. Maybe not for too many of you but some are on a fixed income.”

Every tax dollar to be paid is money that other people are sacrificing, he said. “Curtis Koch, our controller, brought up a great analogy. He said, ‘you know, the plane was flying and how long can the plane fly? You know at what point do you have to take the plane down and refuel?’”

“I get tired of people telling me we’re only going to raise your taxes by $15 or $20,” said Ron Mortensen. “We’ve got 17 taxing entities in my property tax bill. If you pay $50 for all 17 before long you’re getting into real money. So please don’t talk in terms of $15 or a pizza or two pizzas or something. If you want to do the talking, it should be gallons of milk for a family or a dozen eggs or something but don’t make it sound like we’re privileged and we don’t need the money.”

“How do we as a community stay involved when the county’s business happens at 10 a.m. on Tuesday?” another man said. 

“Oh I’m so glad you said that,” said Crofts. “I have to really thank Bob Stevenson, one of my fellow commissioners. He agreed to do evening meetings beginning in April. We’re going to have one commission meeting a month in April, May and June.”

 Crofts said the commission will do it on a trial basis. It will be the second Tuesday at 6 p.m. “I think one of the most important things that we as citizens can do is get ourselves educated and stay involved.”