Lawmakers who oversee the state agency responsible for spending tax dollars to build Olympic facilities delayed endorsing a deal to sell the facilities to the private group bidding for the 2002 Winter Games.
Members of the Sports Oversight Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to hold another meeting Jan. 11 to consider approving the deal to sell the state facilities to the Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee for $99 million.The deal requires legislative approval. It has already been accepted by the privately funded bid committee and the state agency building the facilities, the Utah Sports Authority.
Supporters hope it will be approved during the 1994 session, which begins Jan. 17. The International Olympic Committee will select the site of the 2002 Winter Games in June 1995.
Waiting until the 1995 legislative session could hurt the bid, Randy Dryer, Sports Authority chairman, said. "If this does become a controversy . . . that could have an adverse effect on our bid," he said.
The deal is contingent on Salt Lake City getting the Winter Olympics. Money to pay back the $59 million in taxes being spent on facilities and establish a $40 million legacy fund would come from the sale of broadcast rights.
But oversight committee members had nearly two hours' worth of questions about the deal, which was approved by the Sports Authority late last month on the day it was made public.
Just before the vote, a memo from the co-chairmen of the oversight committee, Sen. Alarik Myrin, R-Altamont, and Rep. Jordan Tanner, R-Provo, was circulated.
The 21/2-page memo summarized the proposed terms of the deal and listed items not in the current agreement and others the co-chairmen said should be addressed before considering a resolution approving the sale.
Many of the questions asked by members centered around maintaining some state oversight of the facilities once they are in private hands. Options suggested in the memo included annual reports to the state and audits.
"I think we need oversight so we don't have an agency out there that doesn't have to answer at all to the concerns that come to the state," Myrin said in an interview after the meeting.
Privitizing the Olympic facilities is a good idea, he said, but the state's taxpayers will continue to have an investment in the facilities even after they're sold.
The deal calls for the bid committee to buy the Utah Winter Sports Park at Bear Hollow near Park City as well as the state's interest in a speed-skating oval to be built in Kearns and an ice rinks under construction in Ogden.
The selling price is $99 million, including the $59 million in sales tax revenues spent to build the facilities. That money, collected over 10 years, would be repaid to the state's general fund.
The legacy fund would be used to operate and maintain the facilities as well for athlete development throughout the state. It would be administered by a private foundation that would assume ownership of the facilities in May 2002.