Opinion ID: 1120932
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: revenue sharing

Text: Plaintiff further contends that the statute mandates impermissible horizontal revenue sharing in violation of the second sentence of article XIII, section 5, which provides: Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Constitution, political subdivisions may share their taxes and other revenues with other political subdivisions as provided by statute. Plaintiffs argue that this constitutional provision is violated because revenues generated by taxes imposed on property in one county are diverted to the state treasurer for redistribution to other counties. The trial court held that the redistribution is permissible under Tribe v. Salt Lake City, 540 P.2d 499 (Utah 1975), and Salt Lake County v. Murray Redevelopment, 598 P.2d 1339 (Utah 1979), wherein this court upheld the diversion of county tax revenues to a redevelopment agency for the purpose of alleviating the statewide problem of blight. The trial court further ruled that defendant Garfield County Commission, by proposing and adopting a budget pursuant to the statute, voluntarily agreed to any revenue sharing that there may be. We find no error. The last sentence of section 5 does not prohibit the diversion of revenues raised in a county to effect a statewide purpose. The sentence simply allows voluntary revenue sharing between local governments when local purposes rather than state purposes exist. We do not view the amendment as prohibiting the state from creating a funding mechanism when a statewide purpose is involved.