Asked if they would vote for or against a bond issue of up to $890 million for additional light rail service in the valley, all survey respondents - men, women, Democrats, Republicans, Mormons, non-Mormons, under and over the age of 50 - gave the measure greater than 50 percent approval. Even with the poll's error margin of 5 percentage points, county voters appear ready to pay for the transit improvements.

Now, all those voters need is to see the $890 million general obligation bond issue on the November ballot.

The Salt Lake County Council of Governments, an association of mayors including County Mayor Peter Corroon, wants to put the TRAX bond measure to the vote.

So does poll respondent Steven Hammer, 63.

"I'm looking years ahead. This will benefit everybody eventually, east, west, north, south," said the Sandy resident. "And once [the TRAX lines] are in, they're in."

Growth, particularly on the west bench, where 700,000 new residents are expected by 2030, is driving UTA's request for a shortened construction time line. The money would allow construction on four TRAX lines - Mid-Jordan, West Valley City, Salt Lake City International Airport and Draper - to begin next year and be completed by 2014 instead of 2025 or 2030.

The County Council has until August to decide which of several requests will be before voters this fall. 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 all are under consideration.

One of the biggest concerns for officials was whether an $890 million bond would threaten the county's rare AAA bond rating. It won't, the Debt Review Committee has determined.

"Our bond rating would not be in jeopardy," said Management & Budget Director Lance Brown.

That means the county would enjoy a lower interest rate on the bond, which if passed would add about $130 in annual property taxes on a home worth $245,000, the countywide average.

The annual debt service would be about $55 million, Brown said. Each household and business' share would decline as the county grows.

But the TRAX bond issue has a serious opponent: a coalition of businesses, led by the Salt Lake Chamber.

The group, which calls itself the 2015 Transportation Alliance, wants the Legislature to pass a law allowing counties to vote on whether to increase sales tax to pay for transit and roads.

If the counties' voters agreed, the extra sales tax would raise about $1.8 billion in 10 years, said Chamber spokeswoman and economist Natalie Gochnour. When federal money and some funds already available for transit are added in, $2.1 billion could be available over a 10-year period, she said.

Since April, the Chamber alliance has been advocating a regional sales tax bump. "Transit and transportation needs don't stop at the Salt Lake County line," Gochnour said.

The alliance, whose members believe a property tax increase would place an unfair burden on businesses, wants Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to call a special session for July 19 so lawmakers could vote on whether to allow counties to increase their transit-related sales tax to 1 cent.

Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties already have half-cent transit taxes; Utah County has a quarter-cent tax, which isn't enough to get it into UTA's commuter rail project, much less expand transit options.

The alliance placed full-page ads this past week in northern Utah's four major newspapers asking voters to contact lawmakers and the governor to urge a special session so "the plan" could be on the ballot this fall.

While the ad lists possible transit projects, it never explains that the plan involves sales tax increases.

The push for a special session got a boost Monday when the Salt Lake County Council unanimously passed a resolution asking Huntsman to call a special session before Aug. 8 to consider the Chamber proposal - but not as a substitute for the bond vote.

A special session looks unlikely.

On Thursday, Huntsman said he had no plans "to do anything now." But at some point, he said, the Legislature might consider a referendum to measure public opinion on how to meet urban transportation needs.

Sen. Sheldon Killpack, who co-chairs the Transportation Interim Committee, said a special session during the June 19 legislative interim day would be driven by a false sense of urgency.

"Why not allow it to be vetted through the regular [legislative] session?" said the Syracuse Republican. "If the argument is, we're just going to be another year behind, boy, education, health and human services [are all] screaming that tune. There isn't a single department that doesn't have that need."

Gochnour said alliance members are intensely lobbying lawmakers to get them to reconsider.

Poll respondents who like the bond idea view a property tax hike as something that could more quickly increase transit options in Salt Lake County.

Hammer, the Sandy resident, said waiting to pay for the four TRAX lines would mean paying for a more expensive system.

"The price of everything is going up so much," he said. The sales tax idea, he added, would mean more taxes forever, instead paying back the bond over a fixed period of time.

Taylorsville resident Sue Player favors the bond issue. "It's one of the few taxes out there that will help the working man," she said.

Holly Bigelow, a University of Utah student and resident of Millcreek Township, said she told the pollster she would support the bond issue. "We have too much pollution in Salt Lake," she said.

But learning about the sales tax proposal softened her resolve. "I think I'd prefer the sales tax," she said, because individuals have control over sales taxes by controlling purchases. "I don't really like property tax going up, because you're paying more for something you already bought."

Janet Pigott, a 97-year-old Avenues resident, rejected the bond issue idea because she's tired of the government tapping her resources.

"I just don't like these politicians," she said. "Let us take care of these people who can't get their teeth fixed."