SALT LAKE CITY — A bill to help build a Major League Baseball stadium cleared the House of Representatives after being rewritten.
House Bill 562 now dips into sales taxes in the Fairpark neighborhood, eliminating a statewide hike in hotel taxes (it preserves the tax on rental cars).
"We're using the increment funding," said Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, who is sponsoring the bill. "The increase that would be applied to the sales tax, the state portion, will now go toward the district or the construction of the stadium if we sign a franchise agreement. In other words, all the new money that would be generated by the project."
It appears to be rewritten to appease some in rural Utah, who objected to paying for a project in Salt Lake City with statewide funds from a hotel tax increase.
"There was enough opposition to that concept that we wanted to pull back and find something that everybody could really be comfortable with," Rep. Wilcox told FOX 13 News.
That played out on the House floor as some southern Utah lawmakers came around to supporting the bill.
"About half of our visitors that stay in hotels are you from Salt Lake that come down to St. George and I could not vote for a bill that’s going to increase taxes statewide for this issue," said Rep. Walt Brooks, R-St. George.
But rural Utah political leaders will lose something they wanted in the bill — an earmark to pay for emergency medical and search and rescue operations. Lawmakers who supported that earmark will have to try again next year.
"I am totally in support of this bill now," said Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Toquerville. "But I do also want to make a point to rural Utah, because that was a part of the original bill that parts of rural Utah were going to be getting some help."
The bill passed out of the House on a 51-21 vote. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.
"We know this is going to be a good thing," said Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, whose district will house the new stadium. "I’ve heard from the leaders in my community and they are really excited about this and the possibility of this and what this is going to mean and the economic impact this is going to have on our community."
A similar bill to create a "sports and entertainment" district in Salt Lake City for a National Hockey League team is making its way through the Senate headed toward the House of Representatives.
