Cities support Salt Lake County transit tax, clearing way for it to take effect, fund transit projects


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SANDY — Two Salt Lake County communities have announced they are supporting a .25 percent tax hike that would support transportation projects across the county, allowing the tax to take effect.

Sandy and Draper city council members approved resolutions supporting the tax at their meetings Tuesday.

SB136, the transportation bill Gov. Gary Herbert signed into law in March, allows counties to enact a tax hike of up to .25 percent to use for transportation needs.

In April, the Salt Lake County Council approved an ordinance that allows the tax to automatically take effect if cities and towns representing 67 percent of the county’s population enact resolutions supporting the tax.

The ordinance allowed cities and towns until June 22 to determine whether or not they support the tax.

Proposition 1 proposed a similar tax hike in 2015, but Salt Lake County voters defeated it with a 51 percent to 49 percent vote.

Prior to Tuesday, about 56 percent of the population of Salt Lake County supported the tax, according to Wasatch Front Regional Council Executive Director Andrew Gruber.

That meant 11 percent of the county’s population, or about 125,000 people, needed to support the tax through their city councils in order for it to take effect.

Sandy City Council members narrowly approved a resolution to send a letter supporting the tax to the County Council by a vote of 4-3. Sandy’s population is about 96,000, according to U.S. Census data.

Draper City Council members voted 4-1 in favor. The city’s population is about 47,000, which puts support for the tax over the threshold needed for it to take effect.

Riverton City Council members briefly discussed the ordinance at their meeting Tuesday, but did not take action. Riverton’s population is about 43,000.

Under Salt Lake County’s ordinance, the county will keep all of the .25 percent tax until July 1, 2019, according to Riverton city documents. After that, .1 percent of the tax will be given to cities or towns for transportation and maintenance projects, .1 percent will be given to Utah Transit Authority and the remaining .05 percent will be given to the county.

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