Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A House committee Wednesday rejected a bill that would have given cities the ability to exclude transit districts — such as the Utah Transit Authority — from receiving revenue from future local sales tax hikes for transportation projects.
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee shot down HB215 with a 4-6 vote. It would have allowed an alternative to what voters in 17 counties considered when they weighed Proposition 1, a measure to raise taxes by one penny for every $4 spent upon voter approval.
In Proposition 1's original form — as mandated by the passage of HB362 last year — 40 percent of the tax revenue went to cities, 20 percent to counties and 40 percent to transit districts.
Under HB215, 20 percent would go to counties and 80 percent would go to cities. It would then be up to city officials to decide how much to spend on transit.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Brian Green, R-Pleasant Grove, said voters in seven of the 17 counties, including the state's two largest counties, Salt Lake and Utah, opposed Proposition 1 because they were wary of giving such a large share of their tax dollars to UTA or other transit districts.
"Nothing is a better indication of the will of the people than when they go to the poll and tell us exactly what they think," Greene said. "Voters have given us their opinion. This is a chance to do something different."
But several lawmakers opposed Greene's bill, arguing HB362 was the result of a grand compromise to fund transportation projects for transit, cities and counties in a comprehensive way.
"To go back would really frustrate me, knowing those conversations we've had," said Rep. Rich Cunningham, R-South Jordan.
Greene said while stakeholders in last year's HB362 represented various interests, the compromise did not represent taxpayers like a vote of the people would. He said if the state didn't provide an alternative option to Proposition 1, it would likely continue failing in counties where roads could benefit from additional tax dollars.
"Our cities are starving," he said. "There's tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars of deferred maintenance in each city on roads. This does a much better job for those counties that have those needs than HB362 would."
Billy Hesterman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, spoke in opposition to Greene's bill.
"We're concerned with the standard being set here, that if voters reject something, then we need to come back and make it more enticing," Hesterman said. "It sounds like we're trying to make the carrot a little tastier, so it doesn't seem like the proper way to handle tax policy and a proper way to handle the voice of the voters." Email: kmckellar@deseretnews.com Twitter: KatieMcKellar1
