From Deseret News archives:
Payson again rejects plan to refinance UTOPIA
The council voted on April 22 to not pledge any more city funds toward refinancing Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency construction. Payson was the only dissenter out of 11 Utah cities with future sales-tax revenues pledged toward the project. In that meeting, the council voted 4-1 against the refinance plan.
Prior to Monday's vote, Payson Mayor Burtis Bills offered his advice to the council, saying, "I looked at it financially, and I think that now is the time to be prudent."
After the vote against the motion, Royce Van Tassell, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, applauded the council and its decision.
"I think that we've seen what citizen democracy is supposed to look like," he said. "There were very serious questions asked, and at the end of the day, concern for taxpayers and taxpayer dollars rightly was uppermost in the minds of City Council members, and that's to be commended."
Representing the interests of UTOPIA at the meeting was its newly elected executive director, Todd Marriott, who stressed that his agency's objective is not to compete with network providers like Qwest or Comcast but to provide an infrastructure that such companies are invited to use to provide their services. He likened the infrastructure to a 50-lane highway spanning the Wasatch Front.
"Broadband is a utility, just like electricity, just like roads, just like airports," Marriott said. "The fact of the matter is that this need has been a great need for some time. And yet, the private sector simply cannot do it. UTOPIA was never intended to be a money-making, generating machine in and of itself. It was to provide infrastructure."
UTOPIA is a fiber-optic utility backed by sales-tax pledges in 11 Utah cities. Five other cities are non-pledging members of the network.
Marriott, who once considered purchasing UTOPIA, has worked with the network as a Colorado-based consultant during its $181 million refinancing project. Before working for UTOPIA, he watched it from "an outsider's perspective," he said.
"I looked at it as a potential acquisition, then got pulled into the fray," he said.
Payson City Council member H. Kim Hancock was the dissenting voice in April's vote and introduced the motion to reconsider on Monday. Prior to making his motion, Hancock emphasized Payson's continuing commitment to UTOPIA, despite a defeated motion to reconsider.
"We have a commitment, and we're not for one second questioning whether we're keeping that commitment, not for one second. In my mind, the risk is worth the potential."
