SALT LAKE CITY — Proposition 1, the sales tax hike that would pay for road projects and transit, appears to have passed in 10 of the 17 counties it was on the ballot.
Early results show the proposition passed in Carbon, Davis, Duchesne, Rich, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Grand, Tooele and Weber counties. It did not pass in Beaver, Box Elder, Juab, Morgan, Uintah and Utah and appeared to be failing in Salt Lake County.
The quarter-cent sales tax, which excludes food, will cost the average resident about $40 per year, backers of it claimed.
“We’re pleased that voters throughout Utah see the value of investing in local transportation. Prop 1 is an investment in our air quality, economy and good transportation options close to home. While many voters approved Prop 1, we’re disappointed it didn’t pass in all 17 counties,” Abby Albrecht, the director of the Utah Transportation Coalition and the chair of the support campaign for Prop. 1, said in a statement.
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Americans For Prosperity, which opposed the tax, said it was happy Prop. 1 failed in so many counties. The group was critical over how much money would have gone to Utah Transit Authority.
“Forty percent of the tax hike would have gone to the UTA, which has proven itself time and time again to be a hotbed of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer’s limited resources,” said AFP’s Evelyn Everton in a statement. “We’re excited to see Utahns stand up and say ‘enough is enough’ and are confident that when the final canvass is complete, voters will have made themselves clear: the UTA won’t get another penny from taxpayers until they can prove they will more responsibly manage our hard-earned taxpayer dollar.”
In other races:
- Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell won re-election over his challenger, Sebastian Benitez;
- Voters in South Salt Lake defeated a parks and recreation bond;
- Herriman Hills Proposition 7 failed;
- Sophia Hawes-Tingey, who would have been the first transgender elected official in Utah had she won, lost the Midvale City Council race to incumbent Paul Glover. Tingey conceded the race on Wednesday;
- In the polygamous border town of Hildale, Kyle Layton, the first non-FLDS candidate to run for a spot on the town council, got only 50 votes compared to the incumbents who were all re-elected, the Spectrum of St. George reported;
- The $298 million Davis County School bond passed;
- Centerville, Woods Cross and West Bountiful approved their RAP (recreation, arts, parks) taxes;
- The $56 million Park City school bond failed;
- In Syracuse, only two votes separate Doug Peterson and Karianne Lisonbee for a city council spot with a recount possible
For more election results visit the following sites below:
Salt Lake County election results
