Rocky loses bonds bid

The Salt Lake City Council has rejected Mayor Rocky Anderson's proposal to fund Salt Palace Convention Center expansion — a move that strikes down the mayor's effort to free up millions of dollars for several of his pet projects.

The mayor had hoped to secure some cash for a number of potential projects including a new Real Salt Lake soccer stadium, Pioneer Park renovations, 300 South median improvements, open-space acquisition and other projects.

The mayor wanted to issue $8 million in bonds to pay for the city's share of the $62 million convention center expansion project. Those bonds would then be paid back slowly over time with the $600,000 in new sales tax revenue the city expects from an expanded Salt Palace.

But the council unanimously rejected that idea Thursday, saying it was too expensive. Instead the council is opting to pay for the Salt Palace with $6.4 million available through the refinancing of old bond debt and from other one-time monies and Redevelopment Agency funds.

Under Anderson's plan, the city would have had that $6.4 million available for his other projects.

"To bond for the Salt Palace expansion in order to save one-time money for projects such as 300 South or Pioneer Park, would, in effect, be bonding for those projects, which we are not prepared to do," Council Chairman Dale Lambert said in a letter to the mayor Thursday.

While the council's move doesn't kill Anderson's push to pay for those pet projects, it does make funding more difficult.

"We would've liked to have used that money for other opportunities," Deputy Mayor Rocky Fluhart said following the council's decision.

The council has tentatively set aside $450,000 in RDA monies for 300 South medians while Anderson has been pushing for roughly $1.7 million to complete the medians from 200 East to 400 West.

The mayor has also recommended spending $800,000 on the first stage of what could be a $4.3 million overhaul of Pioneer Park. The council discussed funding part of that overhaul Thursday but put off a decision until later.

So with large portions of such projects left unfunded — and other projects with no funding sources — Anderson will have to look for new places to find money.

The council noted the mayor may have only himself to blame for a lack of cash.

Lambert said Anderson has slashed the city's Capital Improvement Project budget — a fund that pays for park improvements, sidewalk repairs and other city infrastructure — in the past two years.

The council had a long-standing policy of spending 9 percent of the city's general fund budget on capital improvement projects. Last year Anderson convinced them to cut that commitment to 7 percent and this year has recommended the amount at 6.5 percent of the city's $172 million general fund.

While cutting these funds, the mayor has continued to push for very expensive capital improvement projects, Lambert noted.

"The reduction in CIP funding in the last two budget years is inconsistent with the desire to fund multiple significant projects," Lambert wrote.

In the end the council was unwilling to bond since bonding would cost the city more than $4 million in interest and fees as opposed to paying the $8 million up front.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com