From Deseret News archives:
Salt Lake County digs its heels to make transit top priority
After legislative leaders on Wednesday changed a process that the county will use to pick projects to be funded by a recently approved sales-tax hike, council members say they aren't comfortable giving a quick stamp of approval to the changes.
Members of the council want to make sure that TRAX and other transit projects will be funded by the tax hike, which was approved by voters in November. The changes that lawmakers made could potentially put roads at the top of a list to be funded — above transit.
"There was a presumption on many parts that we were just going to say 'OK, now that they've met, lets go ahead and move forward.' That's not going to happen," councilwoman Jenny Wilson said Thursday. "I'm not going to sign a letter until we know what is going to be funded."
After Wednesday's meeting, county leaders had said they wanted to meet on Tuesday to sign a letter to the state tax commission declaring their intent to levy the tax. After that, county mayors and the council had planned to met in January to pick which projects will be funded through the quarter-cent sales-tax hike.
State law requires that the county either impose the tax or declare its intent to impose the tax before the end of the year, in order to start collecting the tax on April 1. Otherwise, the tax cannot be collected until July, because the tax commission must have time to send notice to the public.
But after several meetings on Thursday, county leaders determined that the mayors and council must approve the changes that lawmakers made before the council can even declare its intent to impose the tax. Two meetings are tentatively scheduled for next week.
The first is planned for Tuesday, to approve the changes and pick projects that will be funded. The second is planned for Thursday, so the council can decide whether to declare its intent to levy the tax.
That's where things could get dicey. Like Wilson, councilman Joe Hatch has threatened to not even impose the tax at all if transit is not a top priority.
"I think their (the Legislature's) frustration is that the public is very very supportive of transit, and that is not their agenda," Hatch said in an interview Thursday. "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. I'm just worried, for every side of the issue is getting hoggish, not piggish."
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com, nwarburton@desnews.com
