I read with some bemusement your latest article about UTA (“UTA — about $2 billion in debt — aims to borrow $88.5 million more”) and indeed most recent articles about the agency. You make it a point to call out the billions in debt they’ve amassed — without mentioning that this debt was approved by voters across the Wasatch Front in 2000, 2006 and 2007. Those votes, of course, authorized UTA to build the 150 miles of rail they’ve constructed in the last 15 years.
The tone of your articles implies that UTA racked up this debt in an appalling display of fiscal irresponsibility. Not so.
However, consider your articles about UDOT. That agency, of course, recently received legislative approval to go $1 billion into debt over the next four years. The Tribune paints this borrowing in a wholly different (and far more anodyne) light.
Of course, it’s The Tribune’s duty to report on these matters for the benefit of the general public; long may that endure. I just hope it’s done in a consistent manner.
Leo Masic, Millcreek