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George Chapman: SLC sales tax increase should all go to streets

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Looking south down a hazy State Street in Salt Lake City Tuesday August 8, 2017.

Salt Lake City is considering a sales tax increase of .05 cents and a public vote for a bond that would cost the average homeowner about $5 per year. The Legislature authorized the sales tax increase when they located the new prison in Salt Lake City. The increased revenue is planned to fix streets, pay for more cops, increase transit and increase affordable housing.

Salt Lake City recently said that streets need $20 million a year for 10 years to provide basic, well-maintained streets. The reality is that city streets need $40 million a year, and the city owes streets $8.4 million a year that was repurposed for salary increases five years ago (Salt Lake Tribune Feb. 2, 2017, “Salt Lake City Council wants to pay for street improvements but how”). The sales tax increase would give only about $32 million a year, and that is not enough for recommended basic street maintenance!

The city says that it needs $12 million from the annual tax increase for an additional 50 police officers. The money needed for the police staffing increase may not be needed now, as the police are having problems with hiring. Salt Lake City has tens of millions of dollars worth of vacant property that only recently has been considered for surplus sale. The old Salt Lake City Police Department building was given for housing instead of selling it and using the money for increased police staffing and salaries.

The city should be using sales of surplus property to provide revenue for supporting more officers and possibly a salary increase. The city should also demand that Salt Lake County provide adequate public safety, jail and district attorney funding to stop the significant cost to the city and its citizens from a revolving door jail and non-prosecution of drug dealers, car thieves and burglars that are often released within a few days of being arrested.

Using funding for transit raises the question of how to guarantee that all transit funding will go to service increases and not projects. When the mayor proposed the Transit Master Plan, the council wanted more projects in it, including a Sugar House streetcar extension up 1100 East and two more downtown streetcars.

There is a tendency in government to use tax increases for projects instead of basic service. The increased tax and bond revenue for transit could tempt the city to use it for projects. The Legislature has also planned a .25 cent tax increase (proposed in Prop One that was defeated in Salt Lake County) for July 2019 to be used for roads and transit. By the end of next year, transit in the city and county will benefit from that transit funding increase.

The affordable housing segment of a sales tax increase does not make sense. Salt Lake City should not be increasing taxes for affordable housing when they should be/could be using the $100 million in property held by RDA for that. The RDA is instead looking at spending $31 million on a market and other questionable projects.

The best hope for affordable housing, mentioned in the Salt Lake City Affordable Housing Plan, is high traffic corridors like State Street and the new Opportunity Zones that should encourage investment. Affordable housing should be mixed income, not all affordable. And it needs $87 million from the bond, not the suggested budget of $5 million, to actually have an impact. The city’s proposal duplicates efforts from the State and various charities in SLC.

All of the .05-cent sales tax increase should go to street maintenance as soon as possible. But, as Councilman Charlie Luke mentioned in the article a year ago, there should be a guarantee that any new funds for streets are not repurposed. And, although the city would like to reconfigure many streets, expensive projects should wait until all streets are in good shape. Again, governments have a tendency of spending money from tax increases on projects instead of basic service.

There will be one more public hearing on April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Council meeting. Taxpayers can also email their comments to council.comments@slcgov.com.

| Courtesy George Chapman

George Chapman is a former candidate for mayor of Salt Lake City.