Survey Says: Townships Prefer to Remain Unincorporated

Aug 05, 2008 by Eric Ray

(KCPW News) Residents of unincorporated Salt Lake County overwhelmingly prefer to continue living in townships, rather than incorporating or annexing into a neighboring city, according to the results of a survey released by the county yesterday. Kearns Community Council Chairman Chuck McDowell says he's not surprised that nearly 60% of that township's residents prefer to stay as is.

"First of all the Kearns community is a pretty tight knit group and we have a definite identified identity out here as residents of Kearns. Number two, both the mayor's office and the county council have done an excellent job of providing the services we need at reasonable service levels and at a low cost from a tax standpoint," says McDowell.

McDowell says Kearns plans to join forces with the rest of the townships to lobby state lawmakers to do away with the sunset provision of House Bill 40. The bill protects townships until 2010. At that point township borders dissolve and are open to annexation by neighboring cities. Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon says the decision to keep townships is now in the hands of lawmakers.

"It's time to sit down with the nine bordering cities of the parts of the unincorporated county and decide, ‘Do we go to the legislature with a common voice and request some legislation, or will everyone now fight for what they would like to see happen?'" says Corroon.

The survey had a 24% response rate. Residents of Copperton showed the most overwhelming support for remaining unincorporated, with 97% of responders preferring to remain a township, followed by Emigration at 77%.

Click here to view the county's township survey results.

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