PLEASANT GROVE, Utah – On Election Day, voters in Pleasant Grove will decide if millions of dollars will be poured into fixing the growing city’s aging roads.
The citizen’s initiative called, Proposition 3, would transfer $2.625 million from the general fund to a special fund for the repair of the city's roads.
Jacob Zonts is one of the sponsors of Prop 3. He says city leaders have made empty promises and by voting yes, they’ll be forced to make roads a priority.
“We probably should put our most expensive projects first. The cost is nearly 2 million dollars per year as we don't do the work on the roads,” Zonts said.
Mike Daniels, Mayor of Pleasant Grove, did not respond to our on-camera requests, but in March he told us if Prop. 3 is approved, existing services could suffer.
“The road initiative that's been created is rather a blunt instrument for addressing this kind of an issue. It would wipe out a considerable amount of money out of the general fund, somewhere around 21% that would be pre-allocated to the roads,” Daniels said.
In the past couple of months, Zonts felt like supporters were gaining some traction, but they recently hit a speed bump. The mayor sent a newsletter to residents urging them to vote against Prop. 3. Zonts filed a complaint with the Utah Lt. Governor’s Office, accusing the city of violations of public spending on electoral issues.
“I don't have a problem with the mayor voicing his opinion. I have no problem with that. The problem is when they use public funds to pay for a flyer, and also the public email to send that flyer out to every single household in the city,” said Zonts.
If the initiative fails, Zonts is grateful that he and so many others had an outlet to voice their concerns. They’ll continue the fight, and work hard to put it back on the ballot in a couple of years.
