This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
FARMINGTON - For $8 to $10 more per month, residents of Davis, Weber and southern Box Elder counties will be able to get around better in the future, an alliance of northern Utah business and government leaders said Tuesday.
The Northern Utah Transportation Alliance, led by the chambers of commerce in the three counties, kicked off a campaign pushing for voter approval Nov. 6 of a quarter-cent hike in the sales tax to fund road and transit projects. The ballot initiative will be called Opinion Question One.
For the average Utah family, the tax boost would amount to $8 to $10 a month.
"It's a small price to pay for increased mobility," said Steve Handy, who works for the Exoro Group, the political consulting firm hired by the alliance to promote the tax. Handy is also on the Layton City Council.
Stuart Adams, chairman of the Utah Transportation Commission, said the tax revenue is necessary if Utah's economy is to remain vibrant and its quality of life high.
He acknowledged later that this quarter-cent sales tax increase may be tougher to sell to voters than the previous hike in 2000, when residents of Davis and Weber counties approved a similar tax hike to pay for commuter rail.
"But citizens of Davis and Weber counties understand the importance of mobility," he said. "Their quality of life is determined, in part, by their ability to move around."
This time, there is no single progressive project such as a new rail line, but a series of road widening and building projects throughout Davis and Weber counties.
A quarter of the new revenue - $10 million to $12 million total in Davis County and $8.7 million in Weber County - would go toward buying land for future roads.
The revenue raised in Willard, Perry and Brigham City - $800,000 -would allow those communities to accelerate commuter-rail transit north from Pleasant View in Weber County.
Monica Holdaway, executive director of the Brigham City Area Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday that Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 89 through southern Box Elder County are expected to reach their maximum vehicle capacities by 2020.
A rail line - they're talking small diesel trains at present - could be running between Brigham City and Ogden by 2015 if voters in the three cities approve the higher tax, she said. Later, commuter rail could be built.
John Pitt, chief executive of the Davis Chamber of Commerce, said without residents kicking in more money for roads, congestion will become "a serious situation," as 1 million more people call Utah home in 2030.
"With this initiative, we can put in place the funding options," he said. Though Question 1 will be an "opinion" question on the Nov. 6 ballot, county commissions and city councils would impose the higher tax if that's what voters decided.
The Box Elder communities would work with UTA on a rail line.
In Davis and Weber counties, road, and perhaps some transit, projects would be given priorities by each county's Council of Governments, comprising representatives of each city.
The Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee would have the final say, since additional state money also would go into the transportation projects.