A proposed public safety bond with strong support from voters has a new, high-profile opponent.

Just days before Tuesday's election, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson publicly came out against the $192 million bond. His opposition, however, comes on the heels of a Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll, conducted by Dan Jones and Associates, that shows 57 percent of registered Salt Lake City voters support the bond.

Only 37 percent of the voters surveyed were opposed to the bond and 7 percent undecided. The poll surveyed 405 people and has a 5 percent margin of error.

The poll was conducted Monday through Thursday, while Anderson did not publicly declare his opposition until Saturday. Previously, he has remained mostly silent on the bond issue, although he has been supportive of improving fire and police facilities.

The problem with this specific bond, Anderson said, is that it is too large and does not spread the costs to all of the people who would benefit. Specifically, he pointed to downtown workers who commute from the suburbs and the non-profits and churches who employ them — especially The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns a significant portion of property downtown — as groups that should help pay.

"We do need new facilities," he said. "But burdening only some property owners is highly inequitable. Our property taxes are already too high."

As proposed, the bond would add approximately $175 to the tax on a residence valued at $297,000 and $318 on a business valued at that same amount.

The bond calls for a new public safety building, an emergency operations center and a combined parking/evidence storage structure. It also would pay for a new west-side fire station and training center and a combined east-side police/fire public safety facility.

Police and fire officials have said the public safety building is dilapidated and unsafe. A leaky roof recently knocked out the police department's 911 dispatch center, elevators don't always work and the parking garage has been condemned.

Anderson did not say how the costs could be more equitable, but he preferred to see this bond voted down and a new one drafted.

"I've had a very hard time speaking against this bond because I know how badly we need these facilities," he said. "But we need to go back to the drawing board and make it more equitable."

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com