Utah County's 1 percent restaurant tax stays in place at least one more year.
But the money accumulated over and above what the county owes on the McKay Special Events Center and the Olympic ice sheet will probably go into a fund earmarked to pay off those obligations early.It's not clear whether cities will still get to divvy up $200,000 or $300,000 as they have in the past for various projects.
But Commissioner Gary Herbert believes that will still happen. It's been budgeted to happen, said Herbert, following a discussion and vote in a regular commission meeting where Commissioner Jerry Grover tried to get the tax reduced by 5 percent.
Grover said if the tax were reduced from 1 percent to .95, the county would only lose about $98,000 in revenue and could begin keeping its promise to phase out the tax as it becomes possible.
Herbert said it is just too soon and the benefit too paltry to make it worth all the aggravation it would cause restaurant owners to change to the new calculation.
"Besides," said Herbert, "It's good business to run with a little surplus."
Herbert said it makes a good deal more sense to wait another year and see if the county actually has the surplus dollars rather than cut them out now and maybe be unpleasantly surprised.
"There's all kinds of curves you don't expect," Herbert said as he reviewed Utah County's recent financial history. "At one time, we had between $300,000 and $350,000 we were able to give back to the cities and then budget cuts required some cutting into that. The restaurant tax became life-saving for us."
Herbert said he prefers to wait until the county gets past its first year collecting a county sales tax and then, if the figures support it, cut the restaurant tax by 25 or 50 percent.
However, the tax has gone a long way toward funding programs like the Freedom Festival and art endeavors. "If we do away with the restaurant tax, we've got to find other ways of funding these type of things that really have to do with the quality of life in Utah County," said Herbert.
Commissioner David Gardner said he was ready to vote for the 5 percent reduction until he heard from restaurant owners who didn't like the idea.
"To a person, they felt it was a stupid idea," said Gardner.
In the Nov. 24 meeting, Grover proposed the tax be reduced by 20 percent and then by 10 percent, but both motions died for lack of a second.
Herbert's motion to retain the status quo stood by a 2-1 vote. Grover asked that an amendment be included to guarantee "leftover" monies from the tax collection would go into a retention fund, but that amendment was not included, either.
"I don't disagree with Commissioner Grover philosophically," said Herbert. "But our vision will be a little more sharp in a year. Now is not the time."
Grover said he finds it somewhat hypocritical to ask departments within the county to run on a zero base budget philosophy when the county as a whole does not do the same.