From Deseret News archives:
Salt Lake County to use bond for rec centers
On Tuesday, the Salt Lake County Council voted to use a $20 million bond to solve a $19 million funding gap for 23 different recreation projects across the valley.
No projects will be cut or scaled back, and all the new recreation projects will be built to meet strict environmental standards.
"We ought to try to do all these projects, and we ought to try to do all of the projects to the scale we told (voters) we would do," Councilman David Wilde said.
However, if cost overruns come up later during construction, the county will either scale back projects, seek additional revenue sources or cut back on some of the more money-intensive environmental components of the projects.
The projects are already $19 million over budget, an overrun county leaders blamed on low-ball estimates, unanticipated inflation costs and a push for tight environmental standards. The shortfall came to light after county voters approved a $63.5 million bond last November for the new recreation centers and trails.
To solve the multimillion-dollar funding gap, the county will use $20 million it originally borrowed in 2004 to build a parking garage for the South Towne Exposition Center. The county is no longer building the garage, after the state stepped in and said it would take over, as part of the Real Salt Lake stadium project in Sandy.
Nearly $4.6 million of the $19 million gap can be attributed to the county's commitment to LEED building standards, a national program entitled Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design that is sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Councilman Joe Hatch said that not only are LEED standards environmentally friendly, but the standards will also save the county money in the future.
He said if the council voted to remove the LEED standards from the recreation-project plans, the council would be "handcuffing us in the future" to increase operations and maintenance costs and further deplete the tourism recreation, cultural and convention (TRCC) facilities fund.
Despite fixing the $19 million funding gap, the council didn't solve any problems with the county's TRCC fund. The fund took a big hit when the Legislature approved a bill that would take $35 million in hotel-room taxes — money that goes into the TRCC fund — to build a stadium in Sandy for Real Salt Lake.
Council Chairman Mark Crockett said he wanted to use some of the $20 million to offset problems in to the TRCC fund. The fund needs $8 million to stay out of the red.
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
