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A total of $50 million will be allotted to new Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks projects this year with another $25 million going toward upkeep and maintenance of previous projects.
The money comes from the ZAP tax, a voter-approved sales tax that receives one penny for every $10 spent, and is divided once every 10 years based on recommendations from the ZAP Recreational Facilities Advisory Board.
"I feel like it's a great program that really allows us to have many of the amenities in our communities that make our day-to-day lives better — parks, trails, recreation centers, basketball courts, tennis courts," said Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation Division director and board member Martin Jensen.
Applications for the funding have been in since November, and board members will spend the next couple months reviewing proposals and listening to presentations from applicants before giving final recommendations in June.
"With each week that passes, there's more and more interest in where that money is going," Jensen said.
Applicants vary from municipalities to private groups, said Mike Peterson, who sits on the ZAP Recreational Facilities Advisory Board, but all have been required to meet the same criteria, and most have been preparing for the opportunity for years.
Peterson said deciding how to divvy up the money will be "a challenge."
"We have $180 million in requests for that $50 million," he said. "There's a couple of projects that literally could take almost the whole thing."
Friday morning, board members will hear presentations and ask questions to six applicants in the third of five such meetings. The meeting is open to the public.