From Deseret News archives:
Legislator pondering bond debt
Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who is president of the pro-business Taxpayers Association, told the Legislature's Transportation Interim Committee on Wednesday that he wanted to see how much debt the state could incur to buy and preserve rights of way for future roads. Under the state constitution, Utah can bond for up to $1.69 billion, and Stephenson said he would like to bond for upward of $1 billion.
"I believe that bonding for right of way is an appropriate use of the state's ability to incur debt," Stephenson said.
He gave no specifics, however, about how a bond for corridor preservation could be paid back. One possibility would be to have all of Utah's 29 counties approve a quarter-cent sales-tax hike and have one-fourth of that money go toward paying back the bond.
Robert Kirk, deputy state treasurer, told committee members that a bond over $1 billion could impact Utah's AAA bond rating. "We would be approaching the questionable range if it's over $1 billion," Kirk said.
John Njord, director of the Utah Department of Transportation, told the committee that the state has over $1 billion in corridor-preservation needs in just the Wasatch Front. The cost to buy land for the Mountain View Corridor, a proposed freeway for western Salt Lake and Utah Counties, is estimated to be $450 million alone, he said.
But Njord also had some questions about a billion-dollar bond to buy land for roads. First, UDOT could not use the bond all at once, because the agency must have a landowner who is willing to sell in order to buy land, he said. Second, no funding has been identified by Stevenson Stephenson to pay back the bond.
But Njord said that he questions putting a billion dollars into corridor preservation without giving funding to actual construction of roads.
"We have tremendous infrastructure needs," he said. "Do we put a billion into right of way preservation and nothing into the projects themselves?"
Transportation committee members had no comment on Stephenson's proposal. Stephenson said he would continue studying the idea before he considered drafting legislation.
E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com
