This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Perhaps the very worst argument made to the people who will decide if a Facebook data center proposed for West Jordan will get as much as $260 million in state and local tax breaks is the claim that those people really don't get to decide.

West Jordan City Councilman Dirk Burton told the Salt Lake County Council recently that it would be unfair if the deal, apparently discussed in secret with the social media behemoth over the course of many months, were to be halted in its tracks so close to fruition.

"What will others think if we work that long with them and then pull the rug out from underneath them?" Burton asked rhetorically. "That's not a good thing for Utah, or the county or West Jordan."

Actually, it might be a good thing. Or it might not, depending on how the dice land on any of a number of rolls.

We may never really know if giving up so much future tax revenue in order to attract the Facebook installation would be better or worse for the area than just standing back and allowing the 252 ares near New Bingham Highway and State Route 111 to develop into something less monumental over a longer period of time.

But if the special panel of officials from the local and state government agencies who would give up the tax revenue does block the deal at the eleventh hour, as Burton fears, the reason might very well be the fact that none of them, their agencies nor the public at large had any say in how the deal was put together.

And, regardless of the merits of the case, the implication that the current review process is a sham, that only the desires of those hammering it out in secret matter, is a politically inept move to say the least.

People who either make their living making public policy or who sought and won elective office for a chance to influence those decisions are not likely to appreciate being told that big deals like this one are already signed and sealed and require only a perfunctory rubber stamp to be delivered.

If the tax deal is blocked, here's what it will mean to West Jordan in particular and to all other developing communities in general: Don't cook up deals behind closed doors. Involve the public, and their various elected officials, as early in the process as possible. In fact, involve them in setting criteria for tax breaks before any specific deals are hammered out.

Today, the Facebook project remains so shrouded in secrecy that even official documents don't mention the name of the company involved, calling the whole thing by a pseudonym.

This is a lousy way to book public support for a project that, on the face of it, might cost us all a lot of money.