In a surprise act, the Salt Lake County mayor signed an executive order Tuesday mandating open Cabinet meetings.

The rare move - Mayor Nancy Workman signed just a handful of executive orders in nearly four years - came as the County Council approved an ordinance calling for the same thing.

"I want people to know it's coming from me and not just being proposed by the council," Corroon said.

Both the order and county ordinance call for at least one executive meeting each month to be noticed to the public and the media. Corroon, however, says every Cabinet meeting, held Mondays at 7:30 a.m. in the mayor's office, will be open.

The sessions can be closed when topics include contracts, personnel and litigation, in accordance with Utah's Open Meetings Act.

Democrats and Republicans on the council praised the policy. Said Councilman Randy Horiuchi: "This is a good day for the county."

- Derek P. Jensen

A new formula to fund expansion of the Salt Palace expansion emerged Tuesday: Salt Lake City would pay less; downtown diners and shoppers would pay more.

In a closed-door meeting, leaders from the city and Salt Lake County agreed in principle to lighten the capital's financial burden for the multimillion-dollar expansion by creating a downtown special-service district and imposing a sales tax add-on of up to 0.12 percent on the businesses within it.

"The thought was to make it so low that it wouldn't make any significant difference to anybody," said City Council Chairman Dale Lambert.

But some merchants fear any hit will be too high in an already-struggling downtown.

"To ding the downtown businesses with more sales tax is not going to help," said Pamela O'Mara, owner of Utah Artist Hands, who is "battling it out" to survive in her location across the street from the Salt Palace.

Lambert counters that the new revenue stream - amounting to about a penny on every $10 purchase - would help the city pay for a bigger Salt Palace without raiding its general fund.

The proposed deal, which state lawmakers would have to approve in next month's special session, is essentially the same mechanism Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson pushed, unsuccessfully, during the regular legislative session.

"The difference is, our mayor doesn't go up and antagonize them," Salt Lake County Council Chairman Michael Jensen said Tuesday.

County Mayor Peter Corroon, along with council members from the city and county, brokered the deal with Anderson last week.

"They're close" to a deal, Lambert said.

If approved by the Legislature, the city's contribution would decrease from $17.4 million from the general fund to just below $14 million from the proposed service district. The difference would fall to the county, which is paying the majority of the $82 million tab through a blend of tourism, recreation, convention and hotel taxes.

"We can figure this out," said Councilman Joe Hatch, who called on fellow members to support Salt Lake City during the special session. "It would show good will. We don't care where the money comes from."

Some downtown merchants do.

Fred Moesinger, owner of nearby Caffe Molise, worries the tax will blunt business.

"Really, it's impacting the locals," he said, preferring to see the hike hit the hotels.

And the tax could be coming at a bad time, Moesinger says, with retailers getting revved up about the LDS Church's plans to give downtown's two malls a $500 million face-lift.

The church, which is counting on the mall makeover luring more shoppers and diners downtown, was mum on the sales tax.

"The church has taken no position on the proposed sales tax plan," spokesman Dale Bills said Tuesday.

Bob Farrington, executive director of the Downtown Alliance, says he wants to see the boundaries of the proposed service district and details of the taxing plan before endorsing or rejecting the idea.

If city officials get the green light for the tax, Lambert said, they may bond to pay the county a lump sum. That could help reduce the county's commitment.

County Councilman Mark Crockett criticized the plan.

"You're talking about transferring [the tax burden] from the county residents to the city residents," Crockett said Tuesday. "That's not OK."

djensen@sltrib.com

Tribune reporter Heather May contributed to this story.