While Weber and Davis counties are poised to have an efficient commuter rail system in place in two years to move residents from those areas into Salt Lake City's business and entertainment centers and back, Utah County officials are just now wringing their hands with a "what-about-us?" whine that can be heard clear on the relatively liberal side of Point of the Mountain.

The Utah County Commission last week voted to put a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the ballot in November so it can raise funds to improve its miserable transportation situation. If voters approve the tax hike, most of $10 million to $12 million raised will be used to leverage $350 million in bonds to build a heavy rail line from Provo to the Salt Lake County line.

But there is no guarantee that rails will be built from the county line to the commuter hub near downtown Salt Lake City that will link bus and light rail systems with the commuter rail being built from Salt Lake to Ogden.

Even if voters approve the line in Utah County, it won't be completed until 2015, seven years after Weber and Davis County commuters are reading books and newspapers on the way to Salt Lake City while the Happy Valley folks still steam behind the wheel in traffic jams.

And who can they thank? The people they elected to represent them in the Utah State Legislature.

Utah County could have gotten a package deal two years ago that not only would have given them the money to build their commuter rail line from Provo to the county line, but would have included a gift from Salt Lake County that would have extended that rail all the way to the downtown hub, linking it to all the other transportation modes.

But Utah County's own representatives looked that gift horse in the mouth and killed the deal.

Senate Bill 183, sponsored by Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, would have done several things.

It would have taken a quarter of the quarter-cent sales tax Salt Lake County voters already had approved for transportation needs and diverted it from Salt Lake County road needs to building a commuter line from the downtown hub to the Utah County line.

The bill would have put on the ballot in Utah County a proposal for a quarter-cent sales tax hike for the construction of the commuter rail.

Had that bill passed, and if voters in Utah County had approved the sales tax hike, Utah County would be in line to have a commuter line linking Provo all the way to Ogden within a couple of years.

And to make the legislation work, all the mayors in Salt Lake County agreed to divert the road money to commuter line money to link up with their brethren to the south.

But sources in the Legislature said the bill died in the Senate after heavy opposition from some of the most powerful people in the Legislature - who happen to be from Utah County.

Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, was the opposition leader in the Senate. House members joining Bramble in digging the grave for SB183 included Republican Reps. John Dougall of Highland; Becky Lockhart of Provo, the House Rules Committee chair; and Jeff Alexander of Provo, the House majority leader.

Those legislators reportedly did not want a tax increase proposal to go directly to voters. And the Utah County Commission, which then included Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, didn't approve putting a sales tax increase for commuter rail on the ballot - until now.

Meanwhile, as Utah County transportation experts and elected officials try to wrestle with the growing population in the county and the ensuing "parking lot" situation during rush hours on the I-15 corridor from Point of the Mountain to Provo, commuter rail is only one option. County officials also are talking about funding for a new highway to divert some of the I-15 traffic through the county.

But the Utah County legislative gang may have some baggage as the county negotiates funding options for highways and other transit options.

Some in the Legislature have long memories. And it wasn't that long ago when Utah County power brokers were seen as the culprits in the diversion of about $30 million in Centennial Highway money from a project to expand I-15 in and around Ogden.

And it wasn't that long ago that Weber State University was at the top of the State Board of Regents list for building and renovation. It was bumped down on the totem pole at the State Building Board, however, when a Utah County representative on the board gave the campus an extremely low evaluation, skewing the score.