A simple plan to ask voters to approve a tax hike to build new TRAX lines in Salt Lake County has become a lot more complicated because of a bill passed Tuesday by the Utah Legislature.

Now county leaders aren't even sure what sort of tax hike they could be asking voters to approve this November. It could be for roads, transit or a mix.

And that's only if the Salt Lake County Council decides to put a quarter-cent sales-tax increase authorized by the Legislature on the ballot. The sales tax would be in lieu of a property-tax bond that was put on the ballot this summer to build TRAX extensions.

The council is scheduled to meet today at noon to decide.

"I don't know what will happen," Councilwoman Jenny Wilson said Wednesday. "This is all happening so quickly."

Wilson is part of a group of elected officials from Salt Lake County who met for about three hours Wednesday to try to interpret the bill passed by lawmakers. Under the legislation, all Utah counties now have authority to ask residents to vote on a quarter-cent sales-tax hike for transportation improvements in their counties.

If approved, a quarter of that money must go to preserve routes for future roads in a county. The Mountain View Corridor, a proposed 40-mile freeway connecting Salt Lake and Utah counties, would likely get the money in Salt Lake County.

Salt Lake County is the only county that could feasibly put the sales-tax proposal on its ballot this November, according to lawmakers. County mayors would need to go through a complicated process of prioritizing road and transit projects and determining which should receive funding.

The process must be approved by the Legislature and weigh factors including congestion relief, public support and the economic impact of a project. It's a process that could lead to several different projects coming out on top — and possibly being voted on by residents this November.

"The difficulty is, there are a number of right answers here," said Bruce Jones, legal counsel for the Utah Transit Authority, during Wednesday's meeting.

Mike Allegra, UTA's chief capital development officer, said the process of comparing roads and transit had some "serious professional issues."

One "issue" is that roads and transit are funded through different sources. And information on the cost of constructing different projects is not comparable, said John Inglish, UTA general manager.

"We have accurate cost data on rail, but on the highway side, we have planning estimates," he said.

Despite those concerns, West Valley Mayor Dennis Nordfelt said Wednesday he felt confident that county leaders could determine projects to put before voters this fall.

"In the democratic form of government, we have the capability of taking simple issues and making them complicated," Nordfelt said. "I would just tell the public to wait until the debate is over and then look at the results."

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Contributing: Leigh Dethman

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com