The Summit County Council tore into proposed state legislation that would cost three local school districts millions of dollars if property-tax revenue is equalized throughout the state.

House Bill 66 could take about $30 million from 19 school districts in Utah to redistribute among 22 other districts and charter schools.

“There are 19 losers and 22 winners in the school districts,” Summit County Councilman John Hanrahan said. “Charter schools are the biggest winners with about $8.8 million that they receive.”

Charter schools are public schools parents or neighborhood leaders create to fill specific educational voids they see in their communities. Government funds charter schools. A charter school called the Weilenmann School of Discovery is slated to open in the Park City area in 2010.

Meanwhile, HB 66 could take almost $8 million from the Park City School District, $797,000 from the South Summit School District and $589,000 from schools in North Summit.

“I’m not sure where the impetus for this bill is coming from but it’s really awful for the three districts in Summit County,” said Hanrahan, a Democrat. “While I think the goal is admirable, I think the mechanism is really wrong.”

Drastic budget cuts could be needed to avoid increasing property taxes if the bill passes, Ure explained.

“Every school district in Summit County will be involved in this,” Ure said.

The bill betrays Republican Party principles conservative state lawmakers are supposed to embrace, Ure said.

“I don’t think it’s the right thing to do, to take from one and give to another. This is a Republican state,” said Ure, who is Republican. “The fundamentals of the principles are flawed.”

School districts in the county will likely raise taxes to avoid cutting programs and personnel should HB 66 become law, he said.

“With the passage of this bill it would take $7 million out of the Park City School District in a time of economic stress,” Ure said. “You don’t take from one and give to another.”

HB 66 could repeal the authority school districts have to levy some property taxes, said David Thomas, a member of the Utah State Board of Education.

If the bill passes, property taxes for the owners of primary homes in Park City worth $500,000 could increase about $210, according to the Web site, utahnsforeducation.com, which Parkites began to fight HB 66.

Business owners and people who own vacation homes in the Park City School District could pay $375 more in property taxes per year if the bill passes, the Web site states.

The Utah Association of Counties and League of Cities and Towns have agreed to oppose HB 66, Hanarahan said in a telephone interview Monday.

“That’s what we wanted them to do,” Hanrahan said.

House members were still debating the bill this week.

“While people generally support providing more resources to school districts in need, they don’t think you should do it at the expense of other school districts,” Hanrahan said.

He has received e-mails that oppose HB 66 from “dozens” of voters, Hanrahan explained.

“We have had a real significant interest and response from our constituents,” he said. “Somewhere, eight or 10 years ago, the Park City School District asked the voters here if we would voluntarily increase our taxes to pay more toward our school district. Now, what the state is doing is saying, ‘Well, thanks for doing that, we’re going to take that money now and give it to other school districts.'”