by Reed Mackley and Steven Huntsman

The dairy farm operation, which now involves four family members, always took great pride in having the highest quality animals. Jimmie says that a good milk cow, with proper care, can produce more than 100 pounds (12 gallons) of milk a day. When Jimmie was a young man and involved in shipping cattle to the East, he met his wife Kay Thomas at the railroad station. Her father was a very effective railroad executive.

The dairy farm operation, which now involves four family members, always took great pride in having the highest quality animals. Jimmie says that a good milk cow, with proper care, can produce more than 100 pounds (12 gallons) of milk a day. When Jimmie was a young man and involved in shipping cattle to the East, he met his wife Kay Thomas at the railroad station. Her father was a very effective railroad executive.

Jimmie’s family was devout Greek Orthodox and used to travel to Salt Lake City on the Bamberger Railroad to attend church, but that became difficult when the railroad closed. So in the 1950’s Jimmie and his father, Alex, signed a personal loan guaranty by placing a mortgage on the family farm to buy property and construct a church at 42nd and Orchard in Ogden.

Under the leadership of Mayor Papageorge, Farr West City has an amazing financial condition. He does not tout the city’s bond rating because he does not believe that the city should owe any money at all. He says his city does not owe one penny. He has also worked to lower the city portion of the property taxes to near zero. He says he would not have any property tax at all if the law did not constrain him. Mayor Papageorge does all he can to make it easy for the business and commercial sector of the city to grow very fast. He also makes a point that the city sewer impact fees (a building permit fee) should be used only for capital expenditures and he indicates that other cities around are not doing that. Farr West’s sewer impact fee is $1650 while in North Ogden it is $2900. He feels that if he has his way, the sewer impact fee will be reduced even more in the future.

Mayor Papageorge says that he thinks one of the most important aspects of controlling city government expenses is that he does not hire anybody that he does not need. He says: “I do the work myself”. He says that by the time you pay the salaries, the insurance, and retirement, the cost goes up in a major way. He indicates the city has better than average reserves and the city does not do anything that they can not pay for in cash. He is happy that there is no debt interest burden on his people. Even though this is the policy, the city has been ahead of its time in developing secondary water and sewer systems. He said that he went to bat with the state water board to get money for the secondary water system for which they wanted to charge the city 3%; but he finally got them to advance the money interest free because that is what the money was for. The city has also built and paid for a new office complex in the last few years.

The city has grown from close to 3,000 to 5,500 within the last ten years. That is 85% growth, while the cities around have grown more like 20%. At least two businesses which have developed in Farr West indicated that they were driven out of Pleasant View and found much more freedom in Farr West. Perhaps the rapid Farr West residential growth happened for the same reason. Some people have said that challengers for the mayor’s office wanted to see changes in administration; but the majority of the citizens haven’t seen any need for change.

Under the leadership of Mayor Papageorge, Farr West City has an amazing financial condition. He does not tout the city’s bond rating because he does not believe that the city should owe any money at all. He says his city does not owe one penny. He has also worked to lower the city portion of the property taxes to near zero. He says he would not have any property tax at all if the law did not constrain him. Mayor Papageorge does all he can to make it easy for the business and commercial sector of the city to grow very fast. He also makes a point that the city sewer impact fees (a building permit fee) should be used only for capital expenditures and he indicates that other cities around are not doing that. Farr West’s sewer impact fee is $1650 while in North Ogden it is $2900. He feels that if he has his way, the sewer impact fee will be reduced even more in the future.

Mayor Papageorge says that he thinks one of the most important aspects of controlling city government expenses is that he does not hire anybody that he does not need. He says: “I do the work myself”. He says that by the time you pay the salaries, the insurance, and retirement, the cost goes up in a major way. He indicates the city has better than average reserves and the city does not do anything that they can not pay for in cash. He is happy that there is no debt interest burden on his people. Even though this is the policy, the city has been ahead of its time in developing secondary water and sewer systems. He said that he went to bat with the state water board to get money for the secondary water system for which they wanted to charge the city 3%; but he finally got them to advance the money interest free because that is what the money was for. The city has also built and paid for a new office complex in the last few years.

The city has grown from close to 3,000 to 5,500 within the last ten years. That is 85% growth, while the cities around have grown more like 20%. At least two businesses which have developed in Farr West indicated that they were driven out of Pleasant View and found much more freedom in Farr West. Perhaps the rapid Farr West residential growth happened for the same reason. Some people have said that challengers for the mayor’s office wanted to see changes in administration; but the majority of the citizens haven’t seen any need for change.

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