It's a good thing the Utah Transit Authority and local government officials have started lobbying the Legislature now, almost 17 months before a voter referendum likely would be held.
It's going to take a long time to convince some lawmakers it's a good idea to even ask voters if they would support a quarter-cent sales tax increase - or other public subsidy - to fund mass-transit expansion along the Wasatch Front.UTA must have the Legislature's support, at least enough to change a law that now requires a portion of any UTA sales tax increase to go to I-15 reconstruction. That provision, left over from the failed Salt Lake County transportation referendum of 1992, is no longer needed.
Wednesday, some members of the Legislature's Transportation Interim Committee weren't exactly warm to the suggestion of a tax increase for buses, commuter rail, light rail or anything else.
The committee was told Utah has been authorized to spend $640 million in federal dollars on new transit projects over the next six years, including a $374 million west-east extension of the TRAX light rail system now under construction.
But Utah can only get that money, UTA General Manager John Inglish said, if it has local funds to operate the west-east spur and the expanded bus service the feds also are willing to help finance. That money could come from a sales-tax increase - either a quarter cent or two-tenths of a cent - Inglish and local government representatives said.
Rep. Don Bush, R-Clearfield, and chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said state lawmakers should not be fooled. He contends that the federal grant, which could fund 100 percent of the construction of the west-east line, intermodal transit centers and new bus purchases, is being used to circumvent the authority of the Utah Legislature.
"The federal government and UTA are deciding these things for themselves," Bush said of the transit expansion program. "It (the $640 million) looks like a gift but what's happening is we're being saddled with future funds without having a say."
Bush said a lot of people still believe Salt Lake County light rail was voted down in 1992 and predicted UTA will find many residents opposed to any tax increase. Six citizens, including members of the Libertarian Party and anti-light rail groups, spoke against a UTA tax increase Wednesday.
Other committee members, including Rep. David Ure, R-Kamas, Sen. Al Mansell, R-Sandy, and Rep. Gerry A. Adair, R-Roy, also voiced their contempt for the proposal.
Mansell, a Realtor, asked why the Legislature should support mass transit expansion when it is local governments who are creating the demand for it by restricting or refusing to allow the development of smaller lots and multi-unit housing projects.
Mick Crandall, projects manager for the Wasatch Front Regional Council, told Mansell that an expanded transit system could lead in that direction - that some zoning changes likely would evolve to maximize the efficiency of mass transit.
Ure, who recently attended meetings with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said Utahns should not take the $640 million for granted. The EPA, he said, will use that carrot on a stick to enforce air- and water-quality standards that could end up costing the private sector millions of dollars.
"We need to realize this . . . They're holding it over our heads," Ure said. "Utah is a long way from coming out of this hole financially just because we've got this (transportation) money coming in."
Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City, whose wife, Karen, is a member of the UTA board, said West Valley voters aren't likely to support a tax increase unless the proposed West Valley City/Tay-lors-ville light rail spur also receives federal money. Extensions into Draper and West Jordan have been authorized to get up to 80 percent of construction costs from the feds, but the West Valley spur was not included in the six-year Transportation Equity Act, known as TEA-21.