Salt Lake County voters will be asked this November to approve a sales-tax hike for road and transit construction instead of paying higher property taxes for light-rail expansion.

The Salt Lake County Council on Thursday voted to remove an $895 million property-tax bond initiative on the November ballot and replace it with a quarter-cent sales-tax increase. The Legislature on Tuesday authorized counties to allow voters to choose to increase their sales tax to pay for road improvements, mass-transit expansion and airports.

Although the council members unanimously approved the switch, they were concerned that one or more TRAX lines may not be funded. That's because under the bill passed by the Legislature, transit projects must now compete with roads in Salt Lake County for funding from the sales-tax initiative.

"Some of the things the county wanted to do with the original property tax may be in jeopardy," said Councilman Randy Horiuchi, referring to four TRAX extensions that would have been paid for under the property-tax proposal taken off the ballot Thursday.

County leaders are in the middle of a complicated process of prioritizing road and transit projects to decide what should be funded with the sales-tax revenues. Those projects include the four TRAX lines, commuter rail and general road improvements such as widening State Street in Sandy.

If the sales-tax increase is approved by voters, a quarter of the revenue must go for preservation of future routes for state highways, according to the bill that authorized the increase. In Salt Lake County, that means the Mountain View Corridor — a proposed 40-mile freeway connecting Salt Lake and Utah Counties — would likely get the funding.

Voters will be able to see the final project list in the county's voter-information packet, which is mailed out before the election. The actual ballot language will not include the project list. Instead, voters will be given a general question asking for a quarter-cent sales-tax increase for transportation projects.

Several county mayors and Utah Transit Authority officials said Thursday that they are confident transit projects will rank high on the list.

Next week, Salt Lake County elected leaders plan to meet to approve the final process for prioritizing which projects receive funding. The week after that, on Oct. 5, county leaders expect to announce the final list.

"I would say that we're moving very quickly and effectively, but there are still a lot of hoops to jump through before we announce what the priorities will be," West Valley City Mayor Dennis Nordfelt said. "Then it will be a matter of communicating those priorities to the public, so they can make an informed choice."

Even so, several members of the County Council are worried that the process could be tainted in favor of local politicians' favorite projects.

"Transit, light rail and commuter rail have to be way at the top of the list for me to vote 'yes' in November," Councilman Joe Hatch said.

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