Utah County commissioners move forward with quarter-cent sales tax resolution despite concerns about unsigned UTA interlocal

The Utah County Board of Commissioners opened extended discussion on a resolution to impose a quarter-cent county option sales and use tax for highways and public transit and to submit a binding opinion question to voters. County staff and Utah Transit Authority (UTA) representatives described edits to a draft interlocal agreement meant to limit the county's approval oversight to major capital projects and major service changes while excluding minor operational changes.

Steve Meyer, for the UTA, told the commission the agency and legal staff had worked on language to define "major" projects (examples cited included bus rapid transit and rail construction) and planned to route the interlocal through a stakeholder committee and then the full UTA board in September. County staff said the last draft arrived late and the parties continued to negotiate wording about what qualifies as a major capital or service change.

Several commissioners warned that placing the binding ballot question on this year's ballot before the interlocal is signed could obligate the county to impose the tax if voters approve it even without protective contract terms. Commissioners also cited legal constraints on ballot language—state code requires the ballot language to reference transportation and public transit—and the compressed timeline for public education and outreach.

Public commenters offered conflicting advice. Andrew Jackson, executive director of the Mountainland Association of Governments, said the interlocal had a long history and that revenues could begin flowing in 2019 if processed; he also offered to fund additional surveys to help the county evaluate public support. Richard Brunst, mayor of Orem, urged the commission to delay placement on this year's ballot because the interlocal had not been approved and signed by UTA and the county and because voters face multiple major items on this year's ballot. Citizen Larry Ellerton said he supported the measure in principle but questioned its readiness for this year.

After discussion the commission moved to adopt the resolution for regular agenda item 2. The transcript records the motion, a second and a voice vote; the audio record in the transcript contains ambiguous roll-call language and a phrase that appears to be a transcription error, so the posted transcript is unclear about the exact vote tally.

The commission directed staff to continue working with UTA on the interlocal language while proceeding with the ballot process as set by the resolution. Next steps discussed were stakeholder review by UTA, a UTA board committee review in September and a full board consideration later that month; county staff noted the statutory notice period for the state tax commission that would affect the effective quarter and start of collections.