All the County Council needs to see is a written proposal from the Utah Transit Authority, said Councilman Joe Hatch. "If UTA comes to us with something on paper, I think there will be a majority in favor of putting that on the ballot this November," he said.

UTA spokeswoman Andrea Packer said her agency is consulting with municipal leaders before taking the bond proposal to the county during the next month or two. "If [a bond vote] is going to be put forth this November, we need to pull the trigger," she said.

Hatch, a Democrat, previously tried to get the council to attach consideration of the bond issue to a $10 vehicle registration fee that would help fund the Mountain View Corridor freeway planned for the west side of the valley.

The proposal failed 5-4 on party lines, but not because Republicans are against funding the TRAX acceleration, said County Councilman Mark Crockett, a Republican. Placing the bond issue on the ballot "is certainly very interesting and I do think it has a chance," he said.

Both Hatch and Crockett said they were concerned about putting too many bond questions to the voters. The council already is considering bonds for Zoo, Arts and Parks, open space, an aquarium, a professional soccer stadium and new fire stations in the unincorporated parts of the county.

"That's just way too much for anyone to digest," said Hatch, who added there should be no more than three bond issues on the ballot.

The TRAX bond's passage would mean an extra $75 in property tax per year on a $180,000 home, Packer said. But because the debt service would be a fixed amount every year, the amount assessed could go down by as much as a third as new homes or businesses are built.

Current long-term county development plans show the four TRAX lines would be constructed by 2030. UTA says the 7/16-cent sales tax now dedicated to TRAX is enough to build the lines on that schedule, but raising $895 million locally would mean the trains would run by 2014. Construction could start next year on all four lines, says UTA General Manager John Inglish.

UTA is making the rounds with the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce to pitch the idea of new taxes to speed TRAX construction. A new business-led coalition, the 2015 Transportation Alliance, formed to support the idea, has suggested new or increased gas taxes, sales taxes on fuel, impact fees, property and sales taxes and special improvement district levies as possible ways to raise money.

The four lines - Mid-Jordan, West Valley City, Salt Lake City International Airport and Draper - are part of what the Wasatch Front Regional Council considers Phase I development, said council spokesman Sam Klemm. A fifth extension, which would terminate at 1200 East in Sugar House, also was in that phase, he said.

UTA officials, however, say they will leave the Sugar House line until 2030 because the neighborhood already is well-served by bus transit and the other four lines are more crucial.

Politics also played a part in how the lines were stacked up, said Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. UTA, he said, "wants to avoid the perception that everything is being done in Salt Lake City."

West Valley City Mayor Dennis Nordfelt, chairman of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, agrees. West side communities that have helped pay for TRAX want their turn. "Salt Lake has already been well-served by rail transit," he said.

The West Valley City TRAX extension is the second on UTA's list of priorities to the Mid-Jordan line, which would be less expensive and will serve Daybreak and other new developments on the valley's West Bench, where a half-million people are expected to settle during the next 50 years. The West Valley line has some physical obstacles that makes it more difficult to build, but already has the population density and demand to fill trains.

Anderson said that while he would like to see the Sugar House line on the list, it's a good idea to send TRAX to Daybreak in its early stages so people right away get used to TRAX as an alternative to driving.