An amendment offered by House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, which would change how the county's Council of Governments measures the value of different road and transit projects, was added to the proposal passed by the Joint Executive Appropriations Committee.

Because of the addition, city and county leaders will have to meet one more time - probably on Tuesday - to formally insert the change into a formula that will allow them to begin ranking various road and transit projects, including four planned light rail extensions and the Mountain View Corridor highway on the Salt Lake Valley's west side.

All of the steps are necessary before the County Council can impose a quarter-cent sales tax increase for transportation improvements that voters approved last month. The Legislature gave the committee the power to approve the criteria when it allowed the sales tax vote with a law passed in a special session earlier this year.

"I expected there would be minor adjustments; I didn't expect changes to the [ranking criteria]. That came as a surprise. But it's not a big concern," West Valley City Mayor Dennis Nordfelt said following the vote.

Left hanging, at least until planners begin crunching numbers, is how the amendment will alter the ranking of different transportation projects. The big question: Will it give roads projects an edge over the transit proposals when they are analyzed and prioritized?

"I don't know," said Darrell Smith, the current chair of the Council of Governments.

Essentially, Curtis asked Council of Governments to alter the "weighting" of projects so that the cost-effectiveness of different road and light rail proposals will be equal with congestion relief - which county and state officials agreed should rank as the top priority when assessing projects. Other factors include economic and environmental impacts, and safety.

Wasatch Front Regional Director Chuck Chappell said the amendment should be easy enough to plug into the criteria process. The big challenge, he said, will be getting county and city leaders together to approve it before the holidays.

Still, the Curtis addition marked the latest twist in what has become a sometimes acrimonious battle between state and municipal leaders over how the transportation priorities ought to be ranked - lawmakers want more roads; county and city officials advocate an emphasis on transit - and how much say legislators should have over how the county prioritizes voter-approved tax increases.

The Joint Executive Appropriations Committee angered some county officials last month when it rejected the Council of Governments' initial project criteria, charging that it wasn't detailed enough.

On Wednesday, committee Democrats, who opposed the Curtis' amendment, essentially agreed.

"We have too many judges trying to decipher people's mind-reading," said Rep. Pat Jones, D-Holladay.

But committee Republicans didn't see what the big deal was.

"You bring up your prioritization process, and we bat it around until we find something we agree on," Rep. Steve Urquart, R-St. George, told Council of Governments officials.

jbaird@sltrib.com