TAX ALERT!
	From The Utah Taxpayers Association
	1578 West 1700 South #201, Salt Lake City, Utah 84104 PH 972-8814 FX 973-2324

TO: Members in Salt Lake County.

RE: Proposed $15 million general obligation bond.

Salt Lake City residents will be asked to vote this November on a $15 million general obligation bond to support the Children’s Museum of Utah. If approved, the bond will be used to purchase the Museum’s new building under construction at The Gateway. The Museum will be expected to match the bond with $7.5 million in private donations.

The Children’s Museum has allocated $200,000 to promote the passage of the bond.

The Salt Lake County Council voted to place this bond on the November ballot despite objections from the County’s own Debt Review Committee. The Debt Review Committee unanimously recommended that “the Council defer placing a General Obligation bond question on the ballot until a comprehensive review of the Children’s Museum of Utah Project, consistent with the ‘Planetarium Standard’ for such reviews can be completed.”

The Children’s Museum’s own consultant, White Oak Associates, noted “it is clear that considerably more planning, analysis and research is needed before anyone can declare that there is a sustainable business plan in place that matches the investments of a realistic capital budget”

The Children’s Museum’s own cash flow analysis projects that the museum will need to raise $2 million annually to cover the shortfall between operating costs and earned income.

The Utah Taxpayers Association opposes the $15 million bond for the following reasons:

1. Two separate analyses have determined that the Children’s Museum’s projections do not adequately demonstrate the financial viability of the Museum’s plan, and the County should not be obligating its citizens to support with tax dollars a plan whose financial viability is in question.

2. Utah’s tax burden is 9th highest in the nation. Even small tax increases are a step in the wrong direction.

3. Since Utah’s bankruptcy rate is the highest in the nation and Utah’s unemployment rate is much higher than it was only a couple of years ago, raising taxes of any kind should not be an option.

4. If funding the Children’s Museum is absolutely critical to the well-being of county residents, then the County should reprioritize existing revenues to fund the museum’s expansion.