Several City Council members have also voiced concerns about the financial risk. But a few are drawn to UTOPIA because of its futuristic promise — high speed, fiber-optic Internet access to every residential and business address in member cities. Many also see the network's potential to bring new businesses to the city.

So far, 10 cities — including West Valley City, a frequent economic competitor with Salt Lake City — have voted to pledge tax dollars to back bonds for the $540 million fiber-optic network. Three have voted to be part of it without pledging any money, which is one option Anderson would like to explore. Four remain undecided. Organizers of the network say the system would have 10 times the bandwidth of current broadband data services, enough to offer households Internet, video and telephone service on a single line. Supporters said building UTOPIA would also provide educational opportunities to participating cities.

If built, UTOPIA would allow private companies such as AT&T and Qwest to compete on the fiber-optic line for customers.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com