But to keep the golden eggs coming, someone has to feed the goose. The Outdoor Retailers need more space for their convention, so the Salt Palace must be expanded.
The various governments that must come up with the $82 million to expand the Salt Palace, and to build a parking garage at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy, still are squabbling about how they will pay to feed the goose.
That's unfortunate. It would be a shame if, in their squabbling, this gaggle of governments let the goose die. That could happen if the governor doesn't put the Salt Palace on the agenda for the Legislature's special session this month.
The Legislature controls the purse strings for this project. In the general session earlier this year, it passed Senate Bill 211, which provides a higher tax on hotel rooms for Salt Lake County to raise the bulk of the money for these projects. The governor signed the bill. But there are still some details that need to be tweaked to allow Salt Lake City to raise a share of the necessary revenues without cutting into its general fund.
SB211 obliges Salt Lake City to use its 1 percent innkeepers tax to help expand the Salt Palace. But the city relies on those funds to provide basic services. If that revenue is diverted for the Salt Palace, the city might have to raise property taxes to keep the general fund whole. Or, it would have to make deep budget cuts.
Instead, Mayor Rocky Anderson has proposed a downtown taxing district around the Salt Palace that would raise the sales tax by one-tenth of 1 percent (1 cent on a $10 purchase). Though everyone who makes a purchase in the special district would pay the tax, some of those people would be the tourists that the Salt Palace brings to town.
Meanwhile, Sandy, home of the Expo Center, is not making any contribution to the $22 million parking garage in that city. Since Salt Lake City is expected to contribute to the Salt Palace, Sandy should chip in for a part of the Expo Center garage.
Since the state collects more than 50 percent of the sales taxes generated by conventions, it should kick in something, too.
Without these changes, the county will be hard-pressed to finance the project. Let's keep this goose a-laying.
