With one member opposed, the Utah Sports Authority has agreed to sell the Olympic facilities being built with $59 million in tax revenue to the private organization bidding for the 2002 Winter Games.

Monday's vote authorized the executive committee of the Sports Authority to draw up an agreement to sell the facilities to the Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee for up to $99 million.The agreement is scheduled to be voted on Saturday by the bid committee but must also be approved by the Legislature before it can take effect. The first payment wouldn't be due until April 15, 1999.

Only Francis Suitter voted against the agreement after asking many questions about the proposed selling price, which includes establishing a $40 million legacy fund to pay for ongoing operations and maintenance costs.

"I need more than an hour to feel comfortable with a decision of this magnitude," Suitter said. Sports Authority members were given a 11/2-page summary of the considerably longer agreement to review.

Sports Authority Chairman Randy Dryer said members could wait to vote on the agreement until their December meeting, but they decided to go ahead after being assured it was the best deal they'd likely get.

Suitter's concerns included whether $40 million would be enough to keep the facilities open to the public after the Olympics. After losing the 1998 Winter Games to Nagano, Japan, Salt Lake City is bidding for the 2002 Winter Games.

Dave Johnson, vice president of the bid committee, told the Sports Authority that the agreement would guarantee there's enough money to cover the long-term costs of running the facilities.

Under the proposed terms of the agreement, the $40 million would be administered by a proposed private, nonprofit entity, the Utah Winter Sports Foundation, that could also spend the money on amateur sports.

Sports Authority Vice Chairman Scott Nelson told members that the bid committee was unable to come to terms with the Sports Authority earlier this year on a lease for the facilities during the Winter Games.

When the Legislature set aside 1/64th of every cent of sales tax paid over a 10-year period to build Olympic facilities, the intent was for the bid committee to lease them during the two-week Winter Games.

In return for the taxpayers' building the ski jumps, bobsled and luge runs, skating rinks and speed-skating oval to strengthen Salt Lake City's chances of getting a Winter Games, the bid committee promised to pay back their investment and establish a legacy fund for athlete development as well as ongoing expenses.But during the negotiations, the bid committee decided there were too many problems with leasing the facilities if Salt Lake City is selected in 1995 to host the 2002 Winter Games.

For example, Johnson said, state bidding regulations would make it difficult for the privately funded bid committee to make cost-effective improvements to the state-owned facilities.

Utah taxpayers would be better off financially selling the state's facilities to the bid committee, Johnson said, because it's the only way they can guarantee there will be enough money available for the legacy fund.

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"It was not our idea to own the facilities," Johnson said, stressing the bid committee is not going to make money on the arrangement. "The facilities are not an asset because there's long-term operations and maintenance costs."

Taking the facilities over would enable the $40 million to be included in the budget submitted to the International Olympic Committee, he said. If the state kept the facilities, the legacy would have to come out of any profits.

And profits from hosting an Olympics must be split with the U.S. Olympic Committee and the IOC, to help develop athletes worldwide. The budget proposed for a Salt Lake Winter Games in 1998 would have given the USOC and IOC 30 percent of the profits.

Johnson said Los Angeles, which made money hosting the 1984 Summer Games, established a foundation similar to the one proposed for Utah. But Los Angeles also paid for all facilities with private funds, not tax dollars.

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