Once the county's $7.7 million bond to help build the David O. McKay Events Center is paid off, many Utah County residents believe the 1 percent restaurant tax should be repealed.
But nearly as many believe the tax should be retained, according to a poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates for the Deseret News.The poll queried 401 people in Utah County and found that 31 percent said they strongly favor getting rid of the restaurant tax and 18 percent somewhat favor repealing it. Eighteen percent strongly favor keeping it and 23 percent somewhat favor retaining it.
Last month, the Utah County Commission voted to retain the 1 percent tax for at least another year.
The same poll also showed that a majority of people in Utah County have never attended an event at the $27 million center at Utah Valley State College. Only 28 percent of those polled said they haveattended an event at the center.
Event coordinator Brent Roberts said about 400,000 people attended some 150 events this year at the David O. McKay Events Center. Many of them were from out of the county, he said.
Geography had much to do with the way respondents felt about the restaurant tax. The farther residents lived from the event center, the more likely they were to want the tax repealed and to never have attended an event there, the poll found.
The tax funds community projects throughout the county, not just debt service for the events center. It also frees up some county money for use elsewhere. Some of the revenue has replaced general fund money in the areas of cultural and recreation use, such as maintaining the historic county courthouse in downtown Provo, County Commissioner Gary Herbert said.
"Some plugging of holes is allowed under the law," Herbert said of the restaurant tax.
If the tax were repealed, officials would have to find other funding for some projects if they wanted to keep them. In the past those have included city festivals, cultural events such as the America's Freedom Festival in Provo, and renovation of the Springville Art Museum.
When the tax was created in 1991, it had the support of every city in the county from Lehi to Santaquin, Herbert said, because it offered the potential to provide recreational and cultural funding for those cities. The commission has renewed the tax every year before paying $700,000 in debt service on the bond and allocating the excess portion to community projects.
The same bond issue was for both the events center and the Utah County Security Center and will officially will be paid off Feb. 13, 2013, according to a banking official at Zions Bank. But the events center portion could be paid off sooner.
Earlier the county paid $1.7 million ahead on the bond, which shortened the time of paying it off, Herbert said. When the events center portion is paid off, county officials should then look at the fate of the tax, he said.
"We need to look (then) at quality-of-life projects. We need to start over at square one and decide what is the best way to fund them," he said. "We need to hold hearings and reflect what the public wants to do."
Herbert said he didn't think the tax should be left on the books without going through that process.
Recently, Commission Chairman Jerry Grover proposed cutting the tax from 1 percent to 0.85 percent. Other commissioners oppose that idea but would consider letting voters decide the tax's fate.
Over the past four years, the county has awarded about $800,000 in grants for various community projects. Typically communities get only a small percentage of their requests. The county also gave $200,000 this year to pay for seats at the events center. Herbert said UVSC needs about $1 million more to pay for the seats, which were left out when the building was built because of a funding shortfall.
This year the tax raised $1.5 million, and the county granted $45,814 to 16 projects in Community Activities Grants and related uses. In some years the county has handed out as much as $400,000.
UVSC President Kerry Romesburg said whether the tax is repealed or not would have no effect on the college. The money doesn't pay for the center's operation, but school officials still want more of it to pay for the event center's seats.
Romesburg noted that the tax is less intrusive than most taxes. "If you don't eat out it won't affect you," he said.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Utah County poll
Currently the revenue from Utah County's 1% restaurant tax is used to pay off a bond for the David O. McKay Events Center at Utah Valley State College and also to fund community cultural events and recreational projects. The bond willo be paid off in 5-6 years. After it is paid off, would you favor retaining or repealing the 1% restaurant tax?
FAVOR RETAINING 41%
FAVOR REPEALING 49%
DON'T KNOW 10%
Have you attended an event at the David O. McKay Events Center since it opened in January?
YES 28%
NO 72%
Poll conducted Nov. 17-Dec. 2, 1996. Margin of error +/-5% on interviews of 401 Utah County residents. Conducted by Dan Jones & Associates. Copyright 1996 Deseret News. Dan Jones & Associates is an independent organization founded in 1980.