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Salt Lake County will eliminate its unpopular police fee within two years, under a legislative deal announced Monday.
With the law-enforcement levy under attack by legislators who would like to see it erased immediately, the county reached an agreement Monday that would give officials until Dec. 31, 2012, to get rid of a fee that affects unincorporated suburbs such as Kearns, Magna and Millcreek.
The county now generates about $12 million a year through that fee.
The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee supported the deal unanimously, sending a bill sponsored by Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, to the Senate floor, albeit with an implementation date almost two years from now.
County Council Chairman Max Burdick pledged Monday to work toward eliminating the fee sooner than Dec. 31, 2012, if possible.
"I would like to start looking at it immediately," he said. "I hope to have a sooner-than-later scenario."
Harper's bill, HB226, was just one piece of a complex compromise that affects four other pieces of legislation.
Under the agreement, an anti-fee measure sponsored by Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, would be taken off the table. That proposal would have eliminated the fee immediately.
In exchange, the county no longer would pursue a utility franchise tax. Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, sponsored SB284, which would have given Salt Lake County the power to charge fees on energy, telephone and cable television bills.
The agreement also would affect two seemingly unrelated measures. It would do away with SB158, which would have placed restrictions on what money the county could use for basic government services in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, and it would stipulate a settlement with Salt Lake City over alleged double taxation for bomb squad and hazmat services.
"Today marks the beginning of a new era in county government," Sen. Ben McAdams, D-Salt Lake City, said, "and the beginning of some painful changes."
Harper's bill now goes to the Senate floor.