- Property valuations for irrigated farmland in Dolores County are being reduced 3 to 5 percent as the result of research by a state property-tax expert.
- Thirty-six thousand pounds of trash has been picked up from the Lake Powell shoreline.
Property valuations for irrigated farmland in Dolores County are being reduced 3 to 5 percent as the result of research by a state property-tax expert. Dolores County Assessor Berna Ernst tells KSJD the state investigator examined alfalfa-seed costs, water costs, and landlord-tenant ratios affecting farmland values. The state then notified her that the assessor’s office was going things correctly but only water costs could be adjusted in drought years. Because farm valuations are based on 10-year averages, the resulting decrease in valuations was small. The investigation was the result of the county’s decision earlier this year to limit property-tax hikes for its farmers to 50 percent.
Thirty-six thousand pounds of trash has been picked up from the Lake Powell shoreline this year as part of a volunteer program. The Salt Lake Tribune reports the refuse included 22 mattresses, countless plastic bottles and aluminum cans, and hundreds of golf balls. The program, called Trash Tracker, lets volunteers spend five or six days on a houseboat free if they agree to collect litter from the beaches along the reservoir on the Utah-Arizona border. Accumulated garbage including human waste is a perennial problem at the vacation site.
