Not surprisingly, Hogle's board authorized the zoo to again bring its request for an $85 million face lift to the County Council this year.
After Councilman Jeff Allen, who also sits on the Hogle Zoo board, related this story to his fellow County Council members, they voted to put the zoo bond before voters this fall. Because of the zoo's confidence in raising the money, the County Council stipulated that the zoo would have to raise the first $20 million from private donors, and then they could receive the $65 million in taxpayer bonds (if the public were to approve the bond this fall).
In a stunning about-face, the zoo cried foul. Why, zoo officials argued, should the zoo be required to front $20 million before receiving taxpayer-financed bond money? According to them, the reasonable "compromise" is for the zoo to front just $10 million before they receive any of the bond money.
The problem with this "compromise" is that it is no compromise; the County Council rejected it in favor of the current proposal.
The truth is, the zoo bond should not be on the ballot at all. The tax increases residents face to cope with Salt Lake County's big issues are staggering. As the Utah Taxpayers Association's most recent newsletter shows, Salt Lake County taxpayers face the prospect of at least a 1 percent increase in sales taxes to pay for necessary, but currently unfunded, transportation projects like Mountain View Corridor. Equalization throughout Salt Lake County, possibly statewide, of property taxes for school buildings will surely mean higher property taxes in some school districts.
On top of those tax increases, dozens of cities, counties and other taxing jurisdictions are proposing double-, even triple-digit tax increases. In one of the most glaring examples, Riverton wants a whopping 204 percent increase in property taxes.
But the tax increases are hardly limited to Riverton; West Jordan wants a 31 percent property tax increase; West Valley City wants another 11 percent. The Salt Lake Valley Fire District, the Kearns Improvement District, the Emigration Improvement District and Midvale are all seeking double-digit tax increases.
With the taxpayers already being asked to pony up for all these tax increases, it is absurd for zoo officials to think that their $85 million face lift should even be on the ballot. Assemble any list of the 10 most pressing, unfunded needs in Salt Lake County and the zoo doesn't even register.
Nevertheless, they are unsatisfied with just appearing on the ballot. In other words, they want their cake, and to eat it, too.
If the zoo is so confident that the public really wants to give the zoo an $85 million face lift, then the zoo should put up the first $20 million, not the last.
What better way is there to demonstrate the public's real interest in giving the zoo a face lift than for the zoo to provide the seed money?
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* M. ROYCE VAN TASSELL is vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association.
