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Utah County Growth

by Tim Taylor

Editor’s Note: The following is an open letter from Tim Taylor, candidate for Utah County Commissioner to Utah County delegates.

Dear Delegate,

As you know, Utah County has experienced phenomenal growth over the past several years. You might be interested in seeing the projected population for Utah County and the various cities.

POPULATION PROJECTIONS

According to the State of Utah Economic and Demographic Projections, the population of Utah County will reach 408,220 by the year 2005.

AREA

2000

2000 to 2010 AARC*

2010

2010 to 2020 AARC

2020

Alpine

7,146

3.3%

9,874

1.8%

11,752

American Fork

21,941

2.4%

27,787

1.6%

32,573

Cedar Fort

341

3.9%

500

2.4%

632

Cedar Hills

3,094

8.2%

6,807

3.6%

9,663

Draper (partial)

0

N/A

4,758

5.1%

7,833

Eagle Mountain

2,157

16.3%

9,758

5.6%

16,756

Elk Ridge

1,838

5.3%

3,093

3.6%

4,391

Genola

965

5.0%

1,565

4.3%

2,392

Goshen

874

3.6%

1,250

3.0%

1,682

Highland

8,172

6.2%

14,940

3.0%

20,120

Lehi

19,028

5.1%

31,302

3.6%

44,437

Lindon

8,363

2.5%

10,711

1.1%

11,918

Mapleton

5,809

4.9%

9,403

4.7%

14,928

Orem

84,324

1.3%

96,039

0.4%

100,020

Payson

12,716

4.9%

20,606

3.0%

27,750

Pleasant Grove

23,468

1.5%

27,334

1.1%

30,415

Provo

105,166

1.2%

118,607

1.0%

130,814

Salem

4,372

5.3%

7,351

5.1%

12,101

Santaquin

4,834

7.3%

9,822

5.6%

16,865

Saratoga Springs

1,003

24.5%

8,993

7.2%

18,005

Spanish Fork

20,246

3.2%

27,693

1.7%

32,745

Springville

20,424

3.5%

28,866

1.7%

34,132

Vineyard

150

20.5%

968

15.4%

4,056

Woodland Hills

941

7.2%

1,891

5.6%

3,247

Unincorporated Areas

3.3%

23,121

1.2%

26,253

North County

99,483

5.04%

162,643

2.85%

215,321

Central County

189,640

1.29%

215,614

0.86%

234,889

South County

79,413

4.62%

124,782

2.85%

165,269

TOTAL UTAH COUNTY

368,536

3.16%

503,039

2.04%

615,480

* AARC - Average Annual Rate of Change
Source: Mountainland Association of Governments “2030 Utah County Population Projections” by Shawn Eliot

North County includes Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Fort , Cedar Hills, Draper, Eagle Mountain, Highland, Lehi, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and Saratoga Springs.

South County includes Elk Ridge, Genola, Goshen, Mapleton, Payson, Salem, Santaquin, Spanish Fork, Springville and Woodland Hills.

Central County includes Orem, Provo and Vineyard.

In connection with our growth, transportation will continue to be one on the biggest challenges that we face in Utah County. In meeting with many of you, I expressed my belief that Utah County has not been receiving its fair share of transportation dollars in helping to meet the increased demands on our roads. A recent article in the April 10th Daily Herald confirms that over the past 5 years, “Provo-Orem got about 84 cents for every dollar paid in gas tax to the federal highway transportation fund. By contrast, the Salt Lake City- Odgen area got back $1.14 and non-metropolitan counties in Utah got back $1.62 per dollar paid.” Every time you fill up your gas tank, you pay 18.4 cents to the federal government and almost 35 cents to the State of Utah in gas tax. ( The figures were not available which showed how much transportation money Utah County received from the State of Utah in comparison to the amount of gas tax paid by Utah County residents). I believe that as a county commissioner, I need to be a strong lobbyist to both the state and federal legislators to make sure Utah County is receiving its share of our gas taxes in order to meet our future transportation needs.

TAXES

At the debate between the candidates for Utah County Commissioner on April 13, 2004, at Lakeridge Jr. High, I made a comment about taxes and I was quoted in the Deseret Morning News on April 14th. The article quoted me as saying “Before we even consider looking at raising taxes, I will look at cutting taxes.” Although I am a huge proponent of lower taxes, my statement in the debate was, “Before we consider looking at raising taxes, I will look at cutting spending.” (This question was in response to a hypothetical question about which area of taxes would you consider raising in order to provide additional revenue to cover county expenditures). I wanted to make this clarification because several individuals asked me about my plans to lower taxes after reading the article in the Deseret Morning News.

Tim Taylor

Candidate for Utah County Commissioner

Tim Taylor
Ph: (801) 766-8467
E-mail: votetimtaylor@juno.com

Posted by windley on April 16, 2004 08:20 AM