Walker insisted she wasn't trying to tell people how to vote on the Nov. 2 ballot measure, but felt she had to announce her opposition "even though I would have preferred to stay silent on this issue."

During a news conference in her Capitol office, Walker said that the citizen initiative, if passed, could pose a threat to the state's AAA bond rating and might compete with road-construction bonds.

She also feared voters won't understand that $30 million of the $150 million bond - financed by a 1/20th of a cent sales tax increase over a maximum of 13 years - could be spent on local projects on which the state would then be required to pay some form of property tax, a possible violation of the state constitution.

Walker said the initiative's sponsors included the community spending provision to attract rural voters.

Those sponsors "tried to make it acceptable to all areas of the state," Walker said. "But it's somewhat difficult to sell Escalante on the idea of open space."

Allowing a statewide tax to fund local projects would be like asking county governments to fund the Capitol restoration, she added.

Amanda Smith, president of Utahns for Clean Water, Clean Air and Quality Growth, called the governor's comments "misinformed."

Smith said all of the initiative's provisions were vetted by the state bond council, the legislative review council and the Attorney General's Office. Last month, she noted, state treasurer Ed Alter said that adding $150 million to Utah's $1.5 billion debt would not hurt the state's bond rating.

Walker, who has created her own watersheds program, urged voters to take the time to "really read" the initiative's language. She called the Clean Water, Clean Air and Quality Growth ballot measure "a remarkable dream. But the implication and implementation is such that I have grave, grave concerns."

The two main-party contenders for the governor's office, Democrat Scott Matheson Jr. and Republican Jon Huntsman Jr., support the initiative.

The irony of Walker's opposition, according to Smith, is that the governor "clearly supports the concept of the initiative; she believes in conservation, protecting our water resources. And this initiative would help do a lot of what she wants. A lot of this is really about determining budget and tax policy through the initiative process. And there's a little bit of misinformation out there."

Many of Walker's points echoed those in a Wednesday missive from the Utah Taxpayers Association, which called Initiative One "a pig with lipstick."

Initiative One is "the most deceptive initiative to come along in years," the anti-tax group said in a news release. Most of the people who signed petitions and many of the measure's supporters "did not know that $30 million of the $150 million will not be spent for open space at all, but for convention centers, local rec centers and various types of municipal buildings."

But initiative supporters call that assertion inaccurate.

"There's nothing in Initiative One which earmarks funds for buildings and convention centers," former U.S. senator Jake Garn, one of the initiative's founding sponsors, said in a statement. The "$30 million is allocated to community projects. Why? Not every community in Utah is the same. The 'communities fund' portion of Initiative One was developed with input from the rural parts of the state and allows communities to apply for funding that meets their quality of life needs - which could be a new park trail, recreation facility or other public resources."

The Taxpayers Association said the $150 million would use up too much of the state's $195 million statutory bonding cap, "which is desperately needed for university buildings and highways." Walker also pointed to the need for campus and road projects.

Smith said that as a revenue bond backed by a sales tax, Initiative One "won't compete with roads and schools." Clean air, clean water and preserving the state's disappearing farm and ranch lands, she added, should also be a priority - especially if residents are willing to pay for it.

"This was something that was vetted by the Legislature for many years and they failed to take action," she said. "If Utahns want to pay $14 a year for clean air and clean water, they should be able to make that decision."

phenetz@sltrib.com

jbaird@sltrib.com