Section corners are important component of survey data in Utah

Many people in Morgan and other Utah cities may have observed metal rods or brass disks placed in the ground and wondered what they were. They are actually corner markers known as “section corners” for the Utah Public Land Survey System. They are also known as monuments.

The PLSS divides the state into 1-mile squares known as sections. Each section is 640 acres, and this data is used to document property rights such as utility easements, road rights-of-way and property boundary locations. Each county is required to maintain these markers and keep a record of them. These costs are covered by state grants and by survey filing fees of $20 per page, County Recorder Brenda Nelson told the county commission Aug. 6.

Morgan County has received notice that it has received a $28,300 state grant for maintenance/preservation of these corners but has not yet received the grant, County Manager Kate Becker said. In the past, the county has operated this preservation fund out of the general fund, but the grant requires it be segregated out. On Aug. 6, the county commission approved a new ordinance that the setting up of this restricted preservation fund.

At the meeting, Commissioner Blaine Fackrell expressed concern that the account is set up to pull from the county’s general fund if it experiences a shortfall, something that happened last year. This happened because the grants are set up as reimbursements so the county has to put out the money when the project is complete and it then receives those funds back from the state, Nelson explained. 

Commission Chair Mike Newton suggested the county put some seed money from the general fund into that fund to keep it solvent. The county would have to do a budget amendment to make that transfer, he said. “Maybe we ought to consider transferring $10,000 to keep that fund solvent.”

He suggested Nelson research what an appropriate amount should be. “Hopefully between your grant monies and your monies coming in from fees that will replenish the fund, we won't have to year after year take money from the general fund.”

 Although last year Morgan County was able to locate and refurbish several survey corners in the Wasatch Peaks area it did not get as many completed around the county as they had hoped, Nelson said. “This year we're hoping to get 12 to 16 stones and stuff found and monumented.”

Each project can vary from $1,000 to $5,000 depending on the amount of research that needs to be done and how difficult it is to locate the markers, Nelson said. There are several thousand of these sections corners in Morgan County, she said. Over the next five years the state will distribute $650,000 in grants among its 29 counties for these projects, Nelson said.

This month the state of Utah entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of Land Management to take over stewardship of the PLSS. “The goal of the MOU is to improve the spatial accuracy of this dataset by incorporating locally collected survey control, incorporating a change management process, and adopting the ESRI Parcel Fabric data model for the ongoing maintenance of Utah’s PLSS dataset,” the Utah Geospatial Resource Center website said λ