That's too bad, because the Legislature made the process more cumbersome. And when they go to the polls in November, voters may know less about what transportation projects the proposed tax increase will pay for.

The county's original plan was simple. It would have asked voters to approve issuing up to $895 million in general obligation bonds, which would have been financed by a property tax increase.

That would allow the Utah Transit Authority to complete four TRAX lines by 2015: West Valley City, West Jordan/South Jordan, Salt Lake City International Airport and Draper. Otherwise, the lines cannot be completed before 2030.

However, the business community in Salt Lake County doesn't like that plan, because the property tax weighs more heavily on businesses than does the sales tax. So, the Salt Lake Chamber proposed a .25 percent increase in the sales tax instead of the property tax hike. It lobbied the Legislature hard for a special session to kill Salt Lake County's plan.

A simple swap of the sales tax for the property tax would be straightforward. But that's not what the legislative leadership created.

It didn't like all that money going to transit instead of roads. And Utah County leaders want FrontRunner commuter rail, rather than TRAX lines, completed through Salt Lake County so that it can link to Utah County.

The result is a sales tax law that would reserve at least 25 percent of its revenues for purchase of the Mountain View highway corridor. It also imposes a process for the county Council of Governments to prioritize transportation projects. The Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee must approve that process.

UTA officials are looking on the bright side. They believe they can get three of the four TRAX lines built with the sales tax, plus FrontRunner, and the sales tax plan won't risk the business community mounting a campaign to defeat it at the polls.

That may be win-win. But officials have a lot of explaining to do before Nov. 7.