Salt Lake County fights city on parking fee

City Councilman Carlton Christensen is waiting to see what Becker decides. He believes the city has a right to charge a fee at the Salt Palace parking garage.

"I stand by what our attorneys interpreted in the law. Our interpretation is we can charge a fee on public parking facilities," Christensen said. "If the Legislature decides that wasn't the original intention in the original law, they probably ought to clarify."

If Becker doesn't back off, county leaders say they could ask the Legislature to clarify the bill to exempt the Salt Palace and South Towne Exposition Center's parking facilities from being subject to the fee.

County leaders say they rely on parking revenue to offset the public subsidy to operate, maintain and pay off construction debt for both the Salt Palace and South Towne Convention Center, Litvack said.

The county spends about $19 million on operations and maintenance and another $29 million a year to pay off construction bonds on the facilities.

"The Salt Palace doesn't make enough money to support itself. So if they take a fee, $1 away from every time we charge somebody to park, that's $1 less for Salt Lake County, which we're not in a position to do."

Anderson said the city needs to charge the fee in order to pay for the municipal services the Salt Palace enjoys.

"We do realize and appreciate the economic benefit the Salt Palace brings to Salt Lake City," Anderson wrote to Corroon. "We also, however, are faced with ever-increasing costs of providing city services, such as police, fire, paramedic and street maintenance to the facility. Expanding the tax on parking service businesses is necessary in order to maintain adequate service levels.

"We expect this tax will be collected on behalf of Salt Lake City, as provided by law."

Corroon said the city should just pay for municipal services at the Salt Palace with "the benefits it receives from the convention industry coming into Salt Lake City."

---

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com