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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Transit Authority is spending big bucks on DC lobbyists — among the top in the nation for transit agencies.
That's helped pave the way for UTA's aggressive $2 billion push to build 70 miles of new rail for TRAX and FrontRunner in seven years. The question now is, where will UTA get the money to run the programs?
UTA is now a multi-faceted transportation agency with expanding rail lines, even its own multimillion dollar development projects, a system considered as good as any other for a city Salt Lake's size.
How UTA got its funding
To gain that status, the Utah Transit Authority spent more than $3.5 million over the last five years on high-priced lobbyists at all levels of government: federal, state, local. In fact, KSL found that UTA spending on federal lobbying tops all other transit agencies in the nation, except one in Washington state.
UTA spending on federal lobbying tops all other transit agencies in the nation, except one in Washington state.
Of that total, UTA spent nearly $2 million in Washington, D.C., on a pair of executive and legislative branch lobbyists.
Opinions are mixed on whether that's a good deal for taxpayers.
"When they deal with the bureaucracy back there, sometimes having some help is an asset to them," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.
Former Utah Congressman Jim Hansen felt otherwise. "It always bothered me," he told KSL, "when I would see an organization lobbying Congress and then find out that we were paying them to lobby us. It just kind of got to me."
UTA's Washington lobbyists declined an interview and referred all questions to UTA. Gerry Carpenter, a spokesman for the agency, says those lobbyists have been key in gathering and sharing information to help UTA win competitive grants.
"Since 2006, more than a billion dollars of federal money has been brought to Utah through our efforts in Washington," Carpenter said.
Where the money was spent
In the past five years UTA has hauled in money for operating costs and system expansion, more dollars per capita than any metropolitan transit agency in the country, says UTA. These funds helped build FrontRunner between Salt Lake and Ogden and the new Mid-Jordan light rail line, creating nearly 6,000 jobs for construction, operations and maintenance workers as well as subcontractors and vendors.
"I think the cream does rise to the top," Matheson said. "If UTA's projects have a reputation as being on time, under budget, ridership has exceeded expectations, that's why I think they've been successful in securing federal grant money."
"Lobbying dollars are sometimes the best bang for the buck a company or an organization spends," said Kirk Jowers, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics. "There was a lot of federal dollars going out. If you could get a nice earmark, what's $200,000 in lobbying fees for a $10 million, $20 million, even $2 million earmark?"
Can UTA afford its new system?
Now that we've got this impressive transportation system, can UTA afford to operate it? The agency says yes, but thanks in part to the recession, UTA is facing a growing budget deficit.
Ridership for TRAX and FrontRunner is about 66,000 boardings each weekday, above UTA's projections. But a recent legislative audit questioned whether UTA has the money to maintain its vastly expanded system, and suggested projected revenues and expenses may not be realistic.
Local sales taxes pay for most of the capital and financing costs for UTA's rail lines. But in 2010, those revenues were $67 million below projections — a number expected to balloon to $1.2 billion in the next decade.
That worries some lawmakers, who say they're still waiting for a detailed long-term plan.
I still fear that an ‘if we build it they will come' attitude exists (at UTA), and we have to be very careful about that because, ultimately, the Utah taxpayer has to deal with it if there's a problem.
–Sen. Aaron Osmond, R-South Jordan.
"Right now, though, I still fear that an ‘if we build it they will come' attitude exists, and we have to be very careful about that because, ultimately, the Utah taxpayer has to deal with it if there's a problem," said Sen. Aaron Osmond, R-South Jordan.
"They need to pay attention and they need to know what the Legislature is watching," said Rep. Janice Fisher, D-West Valley City.
One of two things has to happen: Revenue has to go up, or service has to be cut.
We do know UTA recently cut some bus routes, and a single- ride TRAX fare went up to $2.35 in April. It'll go up to $2.50 next spring.
But raising fares across the board has low-income advocates worried.
"They need to spend less on themselves and spend more on the low- income rider," said Tim Funk with Crossroads Urban Center. "That really is the basis for the service that's been there all of this time."
UTA is looking at changing its fare structure in the future, so fares would be based on distance traveled. But, beyond that, it says it has no plans for future fare increases, or to request a tax increase to pay for future construction or operating costs.
