Sandy is the latest city in the Salt Lake Valley to place restrictions on payday cash-loan businesses, and Salt Lake City may be next.

The Sandy City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night to approve an ordinance limiting the number of payday loan businesses in the city. The Salt Lake City Council, meanwhile, sent the matter to its planning commission for further discussion.

Also referred to as "check advance," "title loans" and "non-depository" institutions, the companies offer short-term loans at interest rates of 400 percent or higher. For that reason, they've come under criticism and regulation in numerous Salt Lake County cities.

"We should manage the location and the number of these facilities in our city because of the surrounding cities and what they've done and so forth," Sandy Councilman Bryant Anderson said. "I think it puts us in a situation where, if we don't follow suit, then the businesses in Sandy would attract a lot of (payday lenders)."

Others on the council, however, were concerned about legislating against specific businesses.

"We don't have any evidence that they are detrimental to our city. I think, to the contrary, they are a need," said Councilman Steve Fairbanks, referring to research presented by Sandy Police Chief Steve Chapman indicating payday loan businesses do not increase the crime rate. "Anything we do is just an emotional response."

After nearly 90 minutes of discussion, the council approved an ordinance limiting such businesses to one per 10,000 residents and stipulating they must be a mile apart from each other.

Sandy has 10 payday loan businesses in operation but two applications were on hold, awaiting the council's vote. Including chunks of unincorporated county, Sandy's population is more than 108,000, so only one of those applicants can now legally open for business in Sandy.

"More and more cities are looking at it and it's causing a reactive response," said John Swallow, general counsel for Utah-based Check City. "I can appreciate their struggle, but maybe something needs to be done on a macro scale."

Since Check City was the first of those two applicants seeking a Sandy store, it will be granted the 11th and final payday loan business in the city.

Swallow argues the industry gets a bad rap because it's so young and "every industry, when they're maturing, makes mistakes." He pointed to a study of the five or six publicly traded companies that shows they make a net income of only 6.6 percent of each dollar. Interest, he added, stops accruing after 12 weeks.