There still will be a Utah County restaurant tax next year, but cities and organizations hoping to get a share of those tax proceeds may find most of them have already been consumed.
Wednesday, the Utah County Commission voted to reauthorize the county's tourism, recreation, cultural and convention facilities tax for the 1996 calendar year. The tax, which grosses $1.2 million each year, is levied on bills for customers at valley restaurants.Commissioners began imposing the 1 percent restaurant tax, which is allowed by state law, in October 1991 to help pay off bonds that funded Utah County's $7.7 million portion of the $20 million David O. McKay Special Events Center project at Utah Valley State College. Though as much as $750,000 of the tax proceeds have gone toward repaying the bond yearly, commissioners have put much of the remaining money in their community activities fund and have paid out as much as $600,000 to cities for use in cultural or recreation projects.
But at least one member of the current commission, Jerry Grover, opposes use of the restaurant tax proceeds for any other purpose except to retire the bond, saying that any other use is not "good fiscal policy."
According to Grover, there probably won't be much left for the community activities fund next year, with the bond obligation and other necessary bills - including the county's probable participation in paying off the special events center's seats and in a possible Olympic ice sheet project. And the commission already cut grant amounts from the fund.
This year, commissioners awarded just $195,725 in activities fund grants. They also adjusted the Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau budget, allowing the bureau's board of directors to use a budgeted $133,500 surplus for grants to cities or organizations requesting them.
Grover, though, is proposing to cut the 3 percent room tax that funds the bureau's budget. He and fellow Commissioner David Gardner would like to see part of the room tax's excess proceeds go to pay for projects like an Olympic ice sheet or a countywide trail system - projects designed to attract tourists. By state law, counties can only use room-tax moneys to construct and operate tourist and convention bureaus, visitors centers, museums, exhibit halls and other tourism-related facilities.
"I believe it is important to dedicate these funds to construction of actual facilities to attract tourists instead of just on advertising," Grover said.
Commissioners have not decided yet what to do regarding a formal policy on the tax-cut and grant proposals, but further discussions on them are expected.