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Salt Lake County's involvement in a downtown convention-headquarters hotel is still possible, but just barely.
The County Council's Republican majority seemed poised this week to kill Democratic Mayor Peter Corroon's request to hire a consultant to look into ways to fund a hotel developed by a private-public partnership.
But GOP Councilman Max Burdick kept the idea on life support, asking his colleagues to give him a week to evaluate what he heard Tuesday.
"I came in here as a 'no' on this," he said. "But some of the things I've learned today make me think I need to think it over more."
The most compelling argument was that the council had to provide only $25,000 upfront — money that Salt Lake City would match — to hire Strategic Advisory Group to evaluate financial models to pay for a large hotel near the Salt Palace Convention Center.
"Our goal is to get to where we can make an educated decision about whether to be involved," said Corroon, who envisions a hotel financed largely by the private sector, with public participation limited to paying for parking and meeting rooms that would supplement Salt Palace offerings.
Democratic Councilman Arlyn Bradshaw supported the concept. He said the county promised legislative leaders last session to look into a public-private partnership on the hotel, which promoters see as vital in keeping the large Outdoor Retailer trade shows in Salt Lake City and attracting other big conventions.
"Regardless of how you feel about the project, we need to know what the project looks like before we approve or disapprove," Bradshaw said. "This is a step toward doing it."
Added Democrat Jim Bradley: "I know there's a major question about public involvement. This investment [in a consultant] will help flush out several ways this can be financed, with or without public participation. … Considering the importance of the convention industry in this community, this is a terrific investment."
But council Republicans, besides being philosophically opposed to tapping taxpayer money to help build a private facility, were wary of taking even that first step. That was partly because legal nuances would require them to appropriate $835,000 out of the county's 2012 budget to cover the cost of a complete hotel feasibility study.
Because one council cannot obligate successor councils to future spending (council membership will change in January after November's election), the District Attorney's Office advised Corroon to ask for the full amount, specifying that council approval would be needed to release funds for each phase of the project.
That did not mollify GOP Councilman Richard Snelgrove, who said the arrangement was an incentive for the consultant to push the project so it can get the full $835,000.
Councilman Steve DeBry, also a Republican, said he was a dead-set against the idea. "We should not compete against private enterprise," he said. "If there's a need or market for this, there are plenty of rich businessmen and corporations that will build it for us."
Republican Council Chairman David Wilde bristled about earlier claims that the county would miss out on big revenue if it didn't expand the Salt Palace or help finance Real Salt Lake's stadium in Sandy.
"Show me the money," he said. "I'm not supportive of putting money toward a convention center hotel. How does it look to our employees when we say we can't give you a raise, but we can delve into these other ventures?"
Twitter: @sltribmikeg —
A downtown mega-hotel
A 2010 study on the idea of Salt Lake County helping to build a convention-headquarters hotel near the Salt Palace projected the hotel would:
• Have more than 1,000 rooms
• Contain about 90,000 square feet of meeting space
• Cost about $300 million
• Generate about $75 million in local economic activity in the first year and more than $100 million annually thereafter
• Not hurt existing downtown hotels over the long term —
Group opposed
The Utah Hotel & Lodging Association objected Wednesday to the use of tax money on a mega-hotel. "If the demand for more hotel rooms exists, as proponents suggest, private enterprise is capable of providing the supply," said association executive director Jordan Garn. "There are already several downtown hotel projects in the pipeline that are exclusively using private capital."