Legislative leaders nearing agreement on transportation funding
At issue is whether Utah should borrow more than $1 billion to fund infrastructure projects.
(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Utah Transit Authority riders board the FrontRunner train in Ogden on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. Last week, House leaders introduced a massive $2.26 billion proposal to fund roads, transit and other infrastructure projects.
| March 2, 2021, 1:53 a.m.
As Utah lawmakers prepare to finish the budget for next year, the biggest sticking point is whether to borrow $1.4 billion to pay for several transportation and transit projects over the next few years. But, House and Senate leaders are close to breaking their impasse on the issue.
| Updated: 1:32 a.m.
Utah legislative leaders said the process of setting next year’s $21.7 billion budget was one of the easiest they’ve ever experienced. Having more than $1.5 billion in extra money to spend can help clear any roadblocks that pop up.
“This is probably the smoothest budgeting process I’ve seen in my nearly decade of doing budget negotiations with the Senate,” House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, told reporters Friday.
Last year, the unfolding coronavirus pandemic forced legislators to cut nearly $1 billion from the budget they had approved just a few months earlier. But, the economic damage from COVID-19 was not nearly as bad as they predicted.
What will lawmakers spend your tax dollars on? The first decisions on next year’s budget are coming later this week.
Legislators are sifting through hundreds of millions of dollars of appropriations requests.
(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) Members of the House of Representatives recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the Utah Capitol in this Jan. 19, 2021, file photo.
| Feb. 10, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
The midpoint of the 2021 Utah Legislature is later this week, which means lawmakers are finalizing their priority spending lists for your tax dollars before the final budget is approved in the coming weeks.
Legislative leaders will vote on the appropriation requests later this week.