In the latest issue of the West Jordan Journal (February 21, 2008) West Jordan Mayor David Newton broke down the seven categories of city expenditures in an article titaled, “Property Tax 101.” I for one appreciated the breakdown. Based on Mayor Newton’s numbers these are the city expenditures (although 1% of total funds is somehow missing):

• Police = 25%
• Public Works = 22%
• General Government = 18%
• Fire = 16%
• Community Development = 9%
• Parks & Recreation = 6%
• Interest on Long-term Debt = 3%

So where does money come from to pay for these services? The obvious answer is sales tax, property tax, and utility franchise tax. The mayor took the time in his article to demonstrate a graphic showing how Salt Lake County property tax’s breakdown within West Jordan. Here are the numbers:

• Jordan School District = 57%
• Salt Lake County = 21%
• West Jordan  16%
• Special Districts = 6%

I decided to spend a few minutes this morning to research the breakdown of the sales and use tax. The current sales tax rate in Salt Lake County is 6.8%. Here are the numbers of our sales tax, showing tax rate (and percentage of total tax):

• State Sales & Use Tax = 4.65% (68%)
• Local Sales & Use Tax = 1% (15%)
• Mass Transit Tax = .3% (4%)
• Add’l Mass Transit Tax = .25% (4%)
• County Option Transportation = .25% (4%)
• Botanical, Cultural, Zoo Tax = .1% (1%)
• County Option Sales Tax = .25% (4%)

There is an interesting article entitled, Three Primary Taxes, Sales and Use Tax, that provides a little more meaning to each of these items. An interesting twist to these numbers is the fact that there is a tax for mass transit, and in addition the “add’l mass transit tax.” In reading about it, it appears only Davis, Salt Lake, and Weber Counties voted for this particular .25% add-on. I better not find UTA spending $1 of that money in Utah County since apparently they voted against it.