RDAs defer taxes on property tax revenue growth when a certain property is developed. Say a school district gets $100,000 a year in property tax revenues from a parcel now. If under an RDA a developer puts retail, offices and housing there, the property would become more valuable, but the district would take in the same $100,000 until the RDA expires. The rest of the would-be taxes go into the development.

In the Cottonwood Mall case, however, the school district would get 25 percent of the growth from the development as it moves ahead, a perk aimed to make the RDA more palatable.

The question in this case is: Would the property be developed without an RDA?

Holladay's mayor insists the project would not.

But Holladay City Councilman Barry Topham said the project area is prime development property and someone will come along who can develop the property without all the public subsidies. The Utah Taxpayers Association and a Cottonwood Mall neighbor, Thomas O. Breitling, agree.

"Every proponent has confessed that these are spooky deals, that they will not go without your subsidy," Breitling told the school board. "If it's such a good deal, why do they need your funds? ... (Potential recession) is no time for Granite School District to gamble $52 million in property tax funds."

School board member Terry Bawden wanted an independent study before agreeing to the project. He represented the board's only opposing vote in the matter.

But residents want this, Salt Lake pollster Dan Jones told the school board. A survey of 400 residents, conducted by a North Dakota firm hired by Dan Jones & Associates, found three-fourths want to redevelop the mall, and 63 percent favored giving up part of future property tax revenues rather than risk losing the project, Jones told the board.

Webb also told the board the city would host annual fundraisers for Granite District and committed $25,000 a year for the schoolchildren of Holladay, and to work with the developer to see if more could be done.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said the mixed-use development is a "wonderful project" with an "award-winning developer that does things right." Corroon does have some reservations, however, and will vote to create the RDA only if the city provides affordable housing options.

Only if he and the other two representatives vote no might the project be derailed. The State Office of Education remained undecided Tuesday, but part of its voting criteria takes into account the school district's stand, state director of school finance and statistics Larry Newton said.

For the record, the state office has voted opposite of a school district.

Also, the Granite Board of Education has never voted against an RDA, said attorney Martin Bates, assistant to the Granite District superintendent on policy and legal issues.

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