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Show March 1999 Newest Weber town asks county for short-term loan ? Marriott-Slaterville needs money to set up city offices, leaders say By CHARLES F. TRENTELMAN Standard-Examiner staff OGDEN - Marriott-Slaterville is asking Weber County for a small short-term loan to tide it over until it gets up and running July 1. Mayor-elect Keith Butler said Monday the city needs about $20,000. It can pay the money back after Oct. 1, he said, when its first sales tax revenues should be delivered. Butler said the $20,000 will be used, among other things, to make sure the city has someplace for that first check to be mailed to. Right now the city has no address. Residents of Marriott and Slaterville voted overwhelmingly in November to incorporate the two townships into one city. In January, they elected a mayor and council. Since then the mayor and council elect have been struggling to get their city set up. They have been hampered by the fact that since their city doesn't legally exist, it has no money and no ability to raise any. It can't even apply for a loan from a bank. Butler said the most pressing needs are bonding for the city officials, some office supplies and an office. The city will have to have a tentative budget in place before it incorporates July 1, and that will require expensive adver-tisements. "People don't realize that fliers and stuff you have to have cost a lot of money, and all of that is coming out of our own pockets right now," he said. County Commission Chairman Glen Burton said he is more than willing to help the new city out, as long as it doesn't cost the county anything. He said Monday he is talking to the county attorney's office to set up some sort of way to make funds available, with enough controls to make sure the county doesn't end up guaranteeing a spending spree. He said it will be a system that would allow the new city to use the county's purchasing ability. Since Weber County disburses taxes to all the cities in the county, Burton said he has no fear that the county will be paid back. Burton said he thinks the county has an obligation to help new cities. "If you want to work with your cities it seems to me you would want to help them get their structure in place," he said. "If you don't, they're going to be a city anyway and it's my opinion that you help them through that process." It hasn't always been that way. Bob Holmes, the first mayor of West Haven, said the city knocked on the door of every bank in town until it found one willing to make a small business loan in 1990. The city borrowed about $40,000, he said, which was enough to pay for a recorder, treasurer and attorney. All the money was paid back in that first year, he said. It was worse for Farr West, which incorporated in 1980. Jimmie Papageorge, first mayor of Farr West, said he had to fund the city himself for three months until the first sales tax revenues came in. He ended up buying a type writer and office supplies and paying the salary of a city recorder out of his own pocket. The council met in his living room for two years. He was paid back the money he spent, he said, but not for the many hours he donated as mayor, maintenance man and everything else the city needed in those early days. It was worth it, he said. "We have our own control, we've got a nice city, a good clean city." You can reach reporter Charles Trentelman at 625-4232, or e-mail him at ctrentelman@standard.net. Wednesday, April 7 Ogden - Marriott-Slaterville is asking Weber Cou for a short-term loan to tide it over until it is officia incorporated as a city on July 1 Mayor-elect Keith Butler said the city needs about $20,000 for such expenses as insurance bonding for city officials, son office supplies and an office. USA Today 221 |