Salt Lake City is under pressure.

For starters, Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said Thursday he does not support a measure to create a special sales tax district to fund the expansion of the Salt Palace Convention Center.

That opposition likely kills Salt Lake City's bid to create the tax district, which would need legislative approval during a planned special session this month. Without such a district, the city may be forced to divert nearly $20 million from its innkeepers' tax ($2 million a year over 10 years) and contribute it to the expansion.

That money now goes to the city's general fund, which pays for police, fire, parks and other basic services. The City Council and Mayor Rocky Anderson agree such a hit would be devastating and could mean a tax increase.

In a brief interview Thursday that Anderson had to cut short, the mayor said there may be other options besides the sales tax district that would save the city's innkeepers' tax. If not, the mayor contemplates a property tax increase.

"If $2 million (a year for 10 years) is diverted from Salt Lake City's general fund, that's the equivalent of imposing a property tax increase on Salt Lake City residents because that would be about our only option," Anderson said.

Even conservative council members like Dave Buhler are talking tax hike.

"It will either be some really huge cuts that would be damaging to public safety or a property tax increase to make up the difference. Those are both horrible options," he said.

Other options seem similarly bleak.

Anderson said one idea is to create a fire improvement district that would assess a charge for fire services on all property owners. That idea, though, would basically have the same effect as a property tax hike. Buhler said the city could use Redevelopment Agency dollars, but it may not have enough of those dollars to fund what Salt Lake City is expected to pay toward the $82 million project, which includes some $20 million for a parking garage at Sandy's South Town Expo Center.

One other alternative city leaders pushed this week was a countywide tax, which county leaders categorically rejected.

Anderson said he wants state leaders to sit down and brainstorm solutions.

"We want to talk with anybody whose been involved in this and see what ideas they might have," the mayor said.

But Curtis criticized Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County for not coming up with a feasible plan on their own. In its general session this year, lawmakers passed a bill that would fund the expansion. The bill diverted the city's innkeepers' tax to the expansion. But after city leaders complained, lawmakers passed intent language leaving it up to the city and county to figure out where the city's portion (stated at $10 million to 15 million in the intent language) would come from.