Lawmakers are ready to go forward with the Utah Sports Authority's plan to sell the state's Olympic facilities to the private organization bidding for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
Members of the Legislature's Sports Authority Oversight Committee were briefed Monday morning on the proposed terms for the sale of the Utah Winter Sports Park here as well as the state's interest in two other facilities.They agreed to meet again before the start of the 1994 Legislature in January to review the agreement, which could bring taxpayers as much as $99 million. The agreement, which requires legislative approval, is being looked at by both the Legislature's fiscal analyst and general counsel to determine whether taxpayers would be getting their money's worth as well as liability issues.
If those questions can be resolved - if the agreement is a good value and relieves the state of future responsibilities even if the facilities fail - members of the oversight committee predicted legislative approval.
"I think we're headed in a good direction," said Sen. Alarik Myrin, R-Altamont, and co-chairman of the oversight committee. He said taxpayers would be getting a good deal.
"They don't have to continue to fund the ongoing costs of operating and maintaining the facilities," Myrin said, "The state gets paid back the dollars invested in the effort."After Utahns supported the Olympic bid and a 1989 referendum, lawmakers approved setting aside a share of sales taxes for 10 years, expected to raise some $59 million with interest.
When the funding for the facilities was originally approved, backers of Salt Lake City's Olympic Bid effort promised to pay back the taxpayers' investment and establish a legacy fund for athlete development and ongoing expenses.
The promise was to be fulfilled if Salt Lake City was successful in its bid for the Olympics. Salt Lake City failed to win the 1998 Winter Games, which went to Nagano, Japan, but it is trying again for the 2002 Winter Games.
One member of the oversight committee, Rep. Kurt Oscarson, D-Sandy, said there have been private discussions about giving the bid committee the facilities in exchange for keeping that commitment.
"I don't know if it would have been official talk. But I know there has been a lot of talk behind the scenes about the best way to limit the state's liability," Oscarson said.
Oscarson said he has not yet decided whether he supports turning over the facilities.
"I think most people will say `Whew, we are going to walk away with our money,' " he said.
The selling price for the ski jump and planned bobsled and luge run at Bear Hollow as well as a speed-skating oval scheduled to be built in Kearns and an ice-skating rink near completion in Ogden is still being negotiated.
At issue is how much interest the sales-tax revenues being set aside will accumulate. The maximum selling price according to the terms talked about Monday is $99 million.
Under those terms, the Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee would close the sale April 15, 1999. The committee would owe $1 million at closing and all but $40 million by Jan. 10, 2002.
That $40 million, which would be allocated to a new non-profit entity that would be called the Utah Winter Sports Foundation, would be due to the state May 1, 2002.
The bid committee - if Salt Lake City is selected to host the 2002 Winter Games by the International Olympic Committee in 1995 - would get the money from the sale of broadcast rights and corporate sponsorships.
The agreement, which needs legislative approval, would be secured by pledging the assets of the Winter Sports Park as will as $100 million of the television revenues.