Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Senate OKs first-substitute bill to help fund Salt Palace expansion; debate centers on tax shifts and county impacts
Summary
The Utah Senate passed first substitute SB 211 on Feb. 22, 2005, creating a permissive funding mechanism—including an optional 1% innkeepers (transient room) tax and changes to car-rental tax distribution—to help Salt Lake County finance a Salt Palace expansion. Debate focused on whether the changes would divert revenue from other counties and on a 60% cap for any single project.
The Utah Senate on Feb. 22 approved first substitute Senate Bill 211, a measure designed to help finance an expansion of the Salt Palace convention center by allowing counties to use a mix of existing and new tourism-related taxes to back bonds for convention facilities.
Sponsor Senator Wadobs said the measure would permit counties that elect to do so to impose a 1% innkeepers (transient room) tax and would return the car-rental tax to point-of-sale distribution for up to five years, reallocating certain innkeepers taxes to fund Salt Palace expansion and related county projects. "Salt Lake County brought this bill to me and wanted to do it for Salt Lake County, and we tried to restrict it to Salt Lake County for the purpose of not offending anyone else," Wadobs said. She added the bill includes a safeguard that "you have to spend no more than 60% on any one project." (See passage and vote details below.)
Why it matters
Proponents say the…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
