Inland Port authority outlines project-area amendment, projects and projected tax gains for Box Elder County

Representatives of the Utah Inland Port Authority told the Box Elder School District Board of Education that the port authority is pursuing an amendment to the Golden Spike project area to add land in Willard City and described recent private investments that have already triggered tax-differential revenue under the project-area model.

The presentation matters to the district because the port project captures most new property-tax growth inside project-area boundaries for up to 25 years and then returns that new tax base to local taxing entities once the area expires.

Scott Wolford, vice president of business development for the Inland Port Authority, said the authority was at the meeting to “talk about an amending of the boundaries of the inland port project area that already exists in Box Elder County and to just answer any questions, kind of give a high level overview of what that means, what the implications are as far as tax and budget, and answer any questions that the board might have.” Stephanie Pack, associate vice president who covers Northern Utah, and Wolford described how the state statute that creates port project areas freezes the existing tax base and allocates new tax differential into the project area. “No consent is required,” Pack said, explaining that within a port project area “the land use authority speaks on behalf of all taxing entities.”

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