The article says: "If Centerville had voted no, it would immediately be forced to begin paying UTOPIA $334,126 a year for 20 years. Payson's no vote means that city is on the hook for $259,920 annually in sales taxes until 2028. The city's other option was to agree to new financing that could put it on the hook for up to about $12 million over 33 years but would require no cash now."

Um, Payson has the same protection in their pledge as the other cities, they just haven't upped their amount. UTOPIA can't begin to take sales tax from Payson until it begins to take it from all the other cities relative to their proportionate share of the total pledge for each year. This is sloppy reporting! If Payson would've been forced to start paying out their sales tax immediately there's no way they would've voted no. Yes, UTOPIA has the cities over a barrel, but it's not as bad as you're reporting here.