October 1995

October 1995: Growth Update

by Jim Stiles

A few weeks ago, I was down in San Juan County, hiding out and being fairly successful at it, when I realized I was running low on Planter's hot peanuts and Arizona Ice Tea, the two most important proponents of my current diet. So I drove into Blanding to stock up. When I pulled into the lot at Parley Redd Foodtown, I was struck by the lack of customers; in fact, I appeared to be the only customer. On closer inspection, I realized and was stunned to see that the place was closed...they were closed on Sunday.

It didn't occur to me that any supermarket closed on Sundays anymore. Surprised, but not defeated, I drove to Blanding's other supermarket, the one that just opened a few weeks ago. Surely they would be open on Sunday of Labor Day Weekend.

No way. Locked up tight until Monday morning the sign on the door said. For a moment, I was greatly annoyed. I'd driven 12 miles for nothing. And how could I go an entire day without Planter's hot peanuts? But as I sat there in the truck, my anger passed and I realized that Blanding, just 77 miles down the road from my hometown, had not yet become a slave to tourism.

Oh Blanding has its faults, for sure. Its politics are pure Limbaugh. It's the home of Jim Shumway and Joe Lyman, two conservative cranks who write regularly for the Blue Mountain Panorama, and regularly lump Bill Clinton with the likes of Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. I say, if they really believe that, they have no choice but to give Clinton a second term...he hasn't even come close to murdering 20 million people yet. Those boys crack me up.

Anyway, despite its conservative bent, Blanding is still a pretty quiet little town. Meanwhile, during that same Labor Day weekend, Moab was booming as usual. The contrast was striking. Now, despite what the chronic greedheads in this town would like to believe, I have no realistic hope that this town will ever resemble the likes of Blanding again. Those days are gone. Forever. But isn't it fair to say: OK. That's enough. We're booming like a son of a bitch. We can slow down now?

While 1995 property tax notices went out this month, here's a sampling of what's boomed on Main Street in the last year. Starting on the north end of town, we've seen the opening or current construction of: Butch Cassidy's Waterpark, Denny's (Home of the 'Grand Slam Breakfast') Restaurant, a Rodeway Inn, Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, Arby's Roast Beef('Different is Better'), and the Dairy Queen ('Scrumpdelicious!'). Coming soon: a 'Hogie-Yogie' (whatever that is) in the building long occupied by the Frosty Freeze, and somewhere, someday...Colonel Sanders himself.

These nationally franchised restaurants and motels are, as we all know, only the latest entries on the Main Street strip, an area that used to be the heart of our community, but which now serves as a gateway of sorts for the millions of tourists that pour into Moab each year.

It has only been since 1990, when McDonald's broke the fast food barrier in Moab that all this economic growth has occurred. Those promoting tourist growth felt this could be the answer to Moab's economic woes and offered the promise of a stable future. How many times have we heard this? Economic growth means a bigger tax base! That couldn't be anything but good news, right?

I don't need to tell anyone to take another look at their tax notices...Is anyone seeing a decrease? Is everyone eternally grateful to all these new businesses for easing our tax burden?

Two years ago, the original Grand County Council, in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy, proposed to use federal grant monies to purchase the Mayberry Orchard along the Colorado River. Their hope was to save it from possible development and ultimate destruction. At a public meeting to discuss the plan, I watched one longstanding member of this community after another rise up to condemn the proposal. And the lament was always the same: By not allowing the property to be developed (commercial campground and convenience store, in this case), we were reducing the tax base and increasing the tax burden on the citizens of Grand County. The alleged logic here being, if you increase the tax base, you decrease the individual tax burden.

The Council ultimately secured the land and the Mayberry Orchard was saved. And I would bet that to some, that kind of decision is exactly the reason Grand County property taxes continue to blow holes in the sky.

May God forgive them for their ignorance.

I've said this before, Lance Christie said it succinctly in an article for this newspaper a few months ago, and I am about to say it again...an increased tax base in small rural communities rarely results in a reduced individual tax responsibility. The exact opposite is more likely to occur. This is my mantra. How many times do I have to say it?

An expanded tax base rarely reduces individual tax burdens.

All anyone has to do to see the reality of the expanded tax base myth is to look at the towns that waged this battle before us. According to the American Farmland Trust, for every dollar paid in property taxes, the average U.S. urban resident uses $1.36 in public services, while the average farm uses only $.21 in similar services. That's a remarkable gap.

Closer to home, in St. George, Utah, according to the Census Bureau, for every dollar generated in tax revenue per housing unit, each house consumed $2.70 in municipal services. Similar comparisons in the Yampa Valley, Colorado and the Madison Valley in Montana produced similar results.

In fact, it's happening all over the west. And that's because we never confront these changes until it's too late. We continue to react rather than act. In Moab, the town is currently in a lather because water and sewer bills are going through the roof. What did anyone expect? Did you think that all these new fast food joints were somehow going to lift a giant financial burden from your shoulders?

Even now, the city could send a clear message to developers: Enough is enough, we don't need anymore. Its moratorium on development north of town didn't go nearly far enough. How about a moratorium on all commercial construction until the town can assess its needs and determine just who would benefit from the next nationally franchised restaurant that came knocking on the building inspector's door?

A few years ago, the Chamber of Commerce ran a big advertising campaign with the slogan...

"You've come to play...why not stay?"

hoping to stimulate the downtown business district. Whether that particular jingle did the trick or not, they've succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Now, if the Chamber really cared about its members, shouldn't it run another campaign to protect the businesses already here from being swallowed up by the Big Guys? How can locally owned businesses, restaurants in particular, continue to compete? We need a new ad campaign? How about...

"You played, you stayed

And we were all thrilled.

Now none of us can afford

Our sewer bill.

If too many more players come here to stay,

The rest of us must move away.

We thought this place was Heaven-sent,

But now we can't afford the rent.

It's enough to make a grown man cry

When the only solution is to say 'Goodbye.'"