Legislature Stalls Process for Local Transportation Spending

None by KCPW

Voters to Cast Ballots Without List of Funding Priorities on Nov. 7th

(KCPW News) When Salt Lake County voters go to the polls on November 7th, they'll be asked to approve a sales tax increase without knowing exactly how the money will be spent. The promise is that all the money will go to projects that ease congestion. But the State Legislature has stalled the process of prioritizing which roads and TRAX lines will be funded first:

"I'm very unhappy with the Legislature for first of all saying that a local decision has to come back to the Legislature for approval," says House Minority Leader Ralph Becker. "And then compounding by not following through with the standards that we've asked local government to bring back to us."

Becker sits on the Executive Appropriations Committee, which was to have considered the prioritization process developed by local governments this week. But the agenda item was dropped by Republican leadership for variety of reasons, including the absence of House Speaker Greg Curtis, who opted instead to visit China with the Governor's Trade Mission.

Senator Sheldon Killpack, who sponsored the bill to let Salt Lake County put the sales tax hike on the ballot and approve its priorities through the legislature, says it's better to take time to carefully identify projects for funding. He adds that voters can be confident TRAX will be funded, as well as critical road projects, if they approve the measure.

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