2 counties tentatively OK funds for TRAX, commuter

TRAX? Yes.

Commuter rail? Could be questionable.

The Salt Lake County Council gave tentative approval Tuesday to a plan allowing the Utah Transit Authority to use sales-tax dollars to fund two new TRAX lines and commuter rail. The Utah County Commission on Tuesday approved a similar plan to direct a sales-tax increase to commuter rail.

The approvals, however, are contingent on a vote this Thursday by members of the Expanded Salt Lake County Council of Governments, which will decide whether the tax money should instead go to other transportation projects.

The expanded Council of Governments includes the nine-member Salt Lake County Council and 17 county mayors.

At least one member of the Salt Lake County Council, Michael Jensen, believes funding for commuter rail from Salt Lake City to Provo could be jeopardized by Thursday's vote.

"The commuter rail is the only thing in my mind that is a little fuzzy," Jensen said.

Councilman Mark Crockett said he personally would like to see commuter-rail funding "revisited" but didn't believe money would be taken from the project or any others.

Councilman Joe Hatch said he believed Jensen's comments "feed into a fear that may not be totally justified."

"It's why we need to make an emphasis to our colleagues in Utah County about (our support for) commuter rail, and do it today," he said.

The reason for Thursday's vote is a legislative audit that said county leaders used a flawed process to determine where the tax money should go. Voters approved the tax dollars last November through a quarter-cent sales-tax hike, and leaders in Salt Lake County then promised the money to build two new TRAX lines, reconstruct I-80 and extend commuter rail from Salt Lake City to the Utah County line.

Money was also given to buy land to provide a route for the proposed Mountain View Corridor.

Legislators suggested this month that the county take a second vote to account for a math error that skewed a ranking process used to select the transit projects for funding. The error allowed transit to be ranked ahead of roads.

Sen. President John Valentine, R-Provo, said Tuesday that he would be disappointed if county leaders did not re-authorize funding for commuter rail. Such a move would appear a way to "take revenge" on the Legislature for suggesting the revote, he said.