Utah County commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday to put a quarter-cent transportation tax on the ballot. If voters approve the proposal, it would be the county's first tax hike since the one levied in 1996 to build a new jail.

"We have a [transportation] problem in Utah County, and it isn't just [Interstate 15]," Commissioner Steve White said Tuesday. "It's every place you get on [the interstate], every place you get off, every major arterial road in the county. We need to move forward to solve that problem."

The commission overrode concerns raised about the effectiveness and timing of the tax. Utah Transit Authority officials, in particular, have pushed for the county to look at earmarking some dollars for express buses and commuter rail.

"We're disappointed," Utah Transit Authority spokesman Justin Jones said after the commission's vote. "There is a transportation crisis in Utah County, but we feel strongly that a multimodal approach would do more to solve that crisis."

Commissioner Gary Herbert, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, broke ranks with his colleagues over the issue of timing.

"We won't be united with our legislators, mayors and our transportation experts," said Herbert, listing some officials who favor putting off the vote until 2005 or until state lawmakers come up with a transportation-funding package. He spoke to his colleagues and lodged his vote via telephone from New York City, where he is attending the Republican National Convention.

White and Commissioner Jerry Grover, however, argued that mass-transit solutions would affect only 3 percent to 5 percent of the traffic along I-15 in Utah County, and do nothing to alleviate the problems on arterial roads that intersect the interstate. They further insisted fewer voters would turn out if the vote took place in 2005 instead of a presidential election year.

"All we would be doing is having another special election in which a minority of the voters get to tell the majority how they are going to be taxed," White said.

Voters will see a list of 27 road projects on which the county intends to spend the yearly $12 million the quarter-cent sales tax would raise. While listed in no particular order, fixing Lehi's congested Main Street is a high priority for the county. Other listed projects will include upgrades to freeway interchanges and widening State Street from Lindon to Pleasant Grove.

Commissioners tentatively plan to put a transit tax on the ballot for commuter rail in 2006. Voters in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties have had a transit tax since 2000.

meddington@sltrib.com