Following the vote, at Jergensen's urging, the city did form a telecom task force, which will look at ways the city can encourage private companies like Quest and Comcast to provide more broadband options for Salt Lake City.

Qwest already suggested to the council last week that if it voted against UTOPIA the company would provide speedy DSL lines to 90 percent of the city's residents by year end.

Qwest for Utah president Jerry Fenn reiterated that commitment Tuesday if the city relaxes some of its conditional-use processes.

UTOPIA could have been a little bit less risky for Salt Lake City than it was for other member cities.

Wexford Capital LLC, a private Connecticut-based venture capital firm that already has ties to UTOPIA, offered to cut the city's potential initial costs for the publicly owned fiber optic network.

Wexford's offer to cover 75 to 85 percent of the city's costs the first 10 years would come in exchange for at least 75 percent of the city's UTOPIA profits for 25 years. That plan would've slashed the city's potential costs to $7.7 million from $28.7 million in the first decade of UTOPIA's operation.

Wexford's deal would have still required the city to pay the first $1.1 million of any UTOPIA losses, with Wexford picking up the rest of the city's financial commitment during UTOPIA's first 10 years.

The deal was only offered to Salt Lake City and not to any of the other 18 original UTOPIA members.

Saxton wanted the council to vote to back the bonds only if a private insurance company would then back the bonds for Salt Lake City. That way the city could have its bonds backed but only pay the insurance premium.

Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson first urged the City Council to join UTOPIA last year and spend some $180,000 for a feasibility study, which showed UTOPIA had a good business model.

But Anderson later said UTOPIA is a bad idea after UTOPIA discovered it would need member cities to back its $540 million construction bonds.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com