SL County Keeps Control of Restaurant Taxes

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Salt Lake County dodged a bullet at the Legislature today (yesterday). It will not lose control of restaurant taxes it collects, but will have to convene an advisory board of city mayors to take instruction on how to spend those taxes:

"They will look at the five year plan, the revenue projections and expenditures and then make recommendations," says County Councilman Michael Jensen. "The County Council still has the option of going with those recommendations or changing them."

Jensen says the cities will have to trust county officials to take their recommendations seriously. City mayors claim the county plays favorites with the money and asked the Legislature to give them spending control over the restaurant taxes collected in their borders.

They've now agreed to the advisory board, which Jensen thinks will play to the county's advantage.

"We believing that they'll see the county has been a good steward of that revenue stream and that we haven't been frivolous or done outlandish things with the taxpayers' money," says Jensen.

Salt Lake County collects about 15-million dollars in restaurant taxes each year, which it spends on parks, recreation and tourism projects throughout the county.

Some have alleged the measure was payback for County Mayor Peter Corroon rejecting a deal to fund the ReAL Soccer Stadium. With the stadium deal done, the Legislature is set to pass the new measure creating the advisory board for the County's restaurant tax spending.

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