During a meeting with the Deseret News' editorial board a few years ago, Tom Warne was introduced as the new director of Utah's transportation department. Warne made an interesting statement then that I've often thought of since. He said, "A number you almost never hear in Utah is 2003."
Of course he was referring to the state's near-obsession with the number 2002 -- the year the state will play host to the Winter Olympic Games. Warne was hired to make sure the enormous highway reconstruction projects the state was about to undertake would be finished in time for the Games.For years, nearly every plan for expansion or improvement of highways, resorts and public transportation and anything connected with upgrading the appearance of the state's cities and towns has been based on what we need to do to put on a two-week Olympics.
The Games have been at least partially responsible for how most major decisions have been made since we got the bid in June 1995 and for the 16 years before that when the bid committee was trying everything (including a few things it shouldn't have done, we now know) to get the bid.
A lot has happened in the past four years, but one thing that has not occurred and isn't likely is a reduction in the cost of anything connected with the Olympics.
It's a certainty that hosting the Olympics is going to cost more than Utah's residents dreamed when surveys showed they supported bringing the world here for a fortnight of winter sports contests.
The Games' budget jumped $200 million to $1.45 billion in September on the advice of a consulting firm that charged $750,000 just to put the budget together.
Mitt Romney, a Boston financier brought to Utah to help clean up Utah's image, tarnished by the Olympics bribery scandal, and to keep tabs on Utah taxpayers' financial interests in the Games, wants to boost the Salt Lake Organizing Committee budget to $1.52 billion.
SLOC is still short $600 million from its current budget, including more than $350 million expected from the sale of corporate sponsorships at the national and international level, some of which may be jeopardized by the bribery debacle. Romney says there may be ways to trim expenses, but the effects of the scandal won't be known for years. The current tab just for legal expenses, tax fees and marketing expenses related to the mess is estimated at $9 million.
It's going to cost Salt Lake City at least $22.8 million at last count to increase fire protection, airport security, street cleanup and maintenance during the Games. And, though Romney is promising there is "no way, no how" taxpayers will pick up that tab, outside funding sources are iffy.
There was talk a few years back, when the potential economic boon of the Olympics was a hot topic, that there was even the possibility the state could make money on the Games. Real money, not a nebulous "potential for increased economic development."
Nobody mentions that anymore. The big question is whether SLOC will be able to repay taxpayers the $59 million in construction costs and $40 million in maintenance they have already spent or earmarked. And whether they'll have to cough up even more. Atlanta's experience proved the myth of economic benefits down the road may be just that.
It's like buying your first house. You know what the house payment will be, and, even including taxes and insurance, you feel pretty confident you can pay it. Other people have done it, right? But then you learn about all the hidden costs. It takes years of annual income increases before you feel in control again.
Another unknown is the final price tag on what was orginally a $1.325 billion I-15 reconstruction project billed as necessary for the Olympics. The latest number attached to the project is $1.59 billion and counting. Motorists are already paying in increased gas taxes, and lawmakers hear a new story on the need for more tax money during every legislative session.
Utah borrowed $68 million this year, and lawmakers express chronic anxiety over whether there will have to be further bonding because of the additional $230 million needed over 10 years to keep the $2.8 billion Centennial Highway Fund -- which includes work other than I-15 -- on track. The economic losses to small-business owners along the Wasatch Front because of highway shutdowns has not been counted and may never be fully known.
Republicans, and especially Gov. Mike Leavitt, have been criticized for waiting until the 11th hour before starting the massive highway project. Utahns are justified for wondering if it might not have been better to start earlier and spread the headache and the cost over more years when it was obvious for many years the repairs were needed.
The economic boom in Utah is over. The state's economy is still strong, but there are signs of a slowdown. Jobs have been lost at Corel, Iomega and Geneva Steel. Utah saw a 3 percent growth rate for 1998 -- not bad, but the first time it's been that low in 10 years. During the boom years of 1994-96, the state had 5 percent-plus growth.
Leavitt's phenomenal popularity has been due at least partly to how well Utahns have done economically during his two terms. He'll no longer be governor when 2003 becomes the important, but perhaps not so pretty, number that the rest of us have to deal with.
Deseret News features editor Marilyn Karras may be reached by e-mail at karras@desnews.com