Remember that $2.5 billion price tag for new rail lines? That's just
the beginning.
Long after light rail reaches Salt Lake County's west side, the
Utah Transit Authority wants to keep collecting its share of a new
quarter-cent sales tax - maybe for a half-century, maybe forever.
The prospect has Salt Lake County leaders steamed. They say UTA
never pitched its rail projects as needing a never-ending tax. Rather,
they consented to $2.5 billion over 30 years, officials say, and
that's what they intend to pay.
But UTA defends its request. Trains need operating and tracks need
repairing, officials say, even after they are built.
"We would not intend to mothball these projects after
construction," said Bruce Jones, UTA's general counsel. "The
obligation to operate and maintain them would go on indefinitely."
That could mean $5.5 billion in sales taxes in the 50-year future
- more than double what UTA officials reported last year when voters
approved the measure to build a commuter line to Utah County and
light-rail spurs to West Valley City and West Jordan/South Jordan.
County leaders are livid, with some accusing UTA of doublespeak
for suggesting a considerably lower cost for extending the county's rails.
"I don't think any voter agreed to spend nearly $6 billion,"
Councilman Jeff Allen said.

"I certainly didn't."
And the cost could be more, according to UTA officials.
''We anticipate we will always need a substantial portion of these
sales-tax revenues," Jones told council members late last month.
That doesn't sit well with county leaders, who have resisted UTA's
suggestion of a half-century commitment. Even Councilman Joe Hatch,
who supports the rail extensions, called it a stretch.
''I am loath to enter into an interlocal agreement for 50 years,''
he said, ''and tie the hands of public policymakers who are sitting in
this position after I'm dead.''
UTA officials insist they never suggested a sunset on the sales
tax and claim the operation costs were "clearly" discussed in
conversations with municipal and county leaders after voters endorsed
the measure last November.
But Murray Mayor Dan Snarr - who favors more money for countywide
transit - said he understood the funding as a 30-year package. The
idea of an "indefinite" sales tax never came up.
Even so, he doesn't object to giving UTA more money.
''The worst thing you can do is underfund these things,'' he said,
''and not continue making progress.''
County voters overwhelmingly approved the quarter-cent sales tax
last year to accelerate county rail projects and road upgrades. While
the ballot language remained vague about how to spend the money -
corridor preservation, congestion mitigation and the expansion of
transportation capacity - countywide leaders designated the two
west-side TRAX routes and the heavy-rail commuter line from Salt Lake
City to Utah County.
UTA expects those trains to be running by 2015.
Salt Lake County Councilman Mark Crockett said he has no problem
paying for those projects, so long as UTA sticks to the $2.5 billion
previously discussed.
''We are fine doing that,'' he said. ''The heartburn is asking for
another $2 billion on top of that.''
UTA officials said Monday that they would consent to a
shorter-term request - maybe 35 to 40 years - if the revenues are
enough to meet their construction costs.
But that doesn't erase the operating costs mass transit will need,
Jones told council members last month.
''We have always said we can't operate these lines without, in
perpetuity, sales-tax revenue.''
jstettler@sltrib.com