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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A new poll has found support among Salt Lake County voters for issuing a bond to speed completion of four TRAX lines.
Sixty percent of the respondents said they support a bond issue of up to 890 (M)million dollars for additional light rail service in the valley. Twenty-two percent opposed it and 18 percent were undecided.
The survey of 400 county voters was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research for The Salt Lake Tribune and had a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.
If put on the ballot and passed, the bond would add about 130 dollars in annual property taxes on a home worth 245 thousand dollars.
The money would allow construction on the Mid-Jordan, West Valley City, Salt Lake City International Airport and Draper Trax lines to begin next year and be completed by 2014 instead of 2025 or 2030.
The County Council has until August to decide which of several requests will be put before voters this fall.
The TRAX bond issue is opposed by the 2015 Transportation Alliance, a coalition of businesses led by the Salt Lake Chamber that wants the Legislature to allow counties to vote on increasing the sales tax to pay for transit and roads.
Alliance members believe a property tax increase would place an unfair burden on businesses.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
