2nd Salt Lake County vote backs transit funding

Round two: Transit wins again.

After a month of debate about the legality of a vote last year to fund three rail lines with taxpayer-approved dollars, the expanded Salt Lake County Council of Governments on Monday voted a second time to fund TRAX and commuter rail — and the group says the vote is final.

For the Utah Transit Authority, the vote means the agency can continue with plans to build the rail lines, according to Mike Allegra, assistant general manager. The vote also allows the agency to keep a $570 million agreement with the federal government to help pay for construction, he said.

"We're really pleased with the vote," he said.

West Valley Mayor Dennis Nordfelt, in turn, said he would not revisit the funding issue again. Nordfelt is chairman of the Salt Lake County Council of Governments and defended the issue during several meetings with the Legislature.

The idea of a flawed, if not illegal, voting process to fund the rail lines was raised after a legislative audit in October that said the process the county used to pick the lines had a math error. Legislators then called on the county to take a second vote on the issue using a corrected process.

Monday's vote was done with the new process, but ultimately county mayors and members of the Salt Lake County Council said the rail lines, in addition to reconstruction of I-80, should be built for a variety of reasons, including the $570 million in federal funding and also a perceived voter approval.

Marc Crockett, chairman of the Salt Lake County Council, made a motion to use some of the tax dollars for a special fund to pay for any litigation costs against the Mountain View Corridor. Legislators, including Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, had mentioned in previous discussions that they worried transit was being wrongly placed ahead of Mountain View in terms of the county's priorities.

Crockett's motion failed. His colleague, Councilman Joe Hatch, said his motion was illegal because lawmakers had only authorized the county to fund rail or roads with the tax money. Voters approved the tax increase last November. It was a quarter-cent sales tax hike.

Allegra said his agency would work with the Legislature to help find resources to fund Mountain View. "We pledge our support to help them with roads, particularly the Mountain View Corridor," he said.

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