Transportation
PLEASANT GROVE, Utah — Voters in Pleasant Grove successfully placed on the upcoming General Election ballot a proposition requiring civic officials to earmark at the start of each fiscal year $2.625 million for road repairs and maintenance.
The purpose of that priority transfer from the city’s budget of $12.6 million is to mandate a minimum funding level for roadway maintenance, according to the city’s Voter Information Pamphlet for the Nov. 7 ballot.
Providing communication and commerce pathways — and the infrastructure that supports their function and growth — is a traditional reason for the existence of government.
The ballot description of Pleasant Grove’s Proposition 3 states, in part, the city’s “FY 2017 General Fund Budget is $12,581.333.00, (and) the required transfer represents a 20.86% budget reduction for general fund services without additional funding.”
An argument in favor of the proposition says its appearance on the ballot is the result of “a chain of broken promises” by City Councils and lists 10 reasons for supporting the measure.
An argument against Proposition 3 states the ballot measure is an untested solution with hidden costs that will at the outset slash 20 percent from the city’s annual budget and badly impact operations.
The text of the proposition can be obtained at the Pleasant Grove city offices.
The issue of road repair and maintenance is not restricted to Pleasant Grove. Some nearby communities are or have been considering other means to fund road maintenance, such as a controversial monthly per-household road fee as proposed in Highland, according to local media reports.
Also on the Pleasant Grove November ballot are elections to the mayor’s seat and two City Council seats. Council member Cyd LeMone and businessman Guy Fugal face off in the race for mayor, and four candidates vie for the two council seats: incumbent Ben Stanley, Dianna Newton Andersen, Blaine Thatcher and Todd Williams.
The deadline to register as an eligible voter in Pleasant Grove’s General Election issues is 5 p.m. Nov. 2. Pleasant Grove Vote by Mail ballots must be mailed and postmarked before Election Day (Nov. 7) or placed in the designated secure ballot box at the Election Service Center, Pleasant Grove Library, 30 E. Center St., lower level, by 8 p.m. Nov. 7.
—Gary Brodeur
Fire Poppy 