Salt Lake City officials to discuss new entertainment district ahead of council vote

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Smith Entertainment Group and Salt Lake City leaders have been negotiating an agreement for the proposed downtown entertainment district.

Tuesday, the Salt Lake City Council will discuss an agreement between the city and SEG because of Utah’s new hockey team.

In June, the planning commission voted unanimously to not recommend certain amendments of the plan and noted they felt they were being asked to make the decision too quickly.

The proposed half-percent sales tax has also been a hot topic. The tax could raise more than a billion dollars over 30 years.

Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost said it was estimated that would cost an average between $120 and $150 a year per household.

“That is not ‘nothing’ for some families. I want to be very, very cognizant of that. It’s very important to pay attention to that,” Dailey-Provost said.

She said the long-term benefits of the entertainment district can help everyone across the board, though.

For her, that means reinvesting some of the millions of dollars from the tax back into the community.

As the city continues to grow, she felt that in order to thrive, investments needed to be made into the biggest earners.

“It really, really would truly cripple our city for a generation if we were to lose the Jazz and the new hockey team out of downtown Salt Lake City,” she said. “I can’t begin to express how much tax revenue we would lose.”

The hope is that much of the tax revenue would come from people who don’t live in the city.

MORE on the SLC PROPOSED ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT:

“Think of all the folks who come to town on meetings and conventions and tourists or visiting from around the state to shop at City Creek Center and other places. They are participating in this tax as well,” said Dee Brewer, the Executive Director of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance.

Brewer understood the concerns, but asked what people want Salt Lake to look like in the future.

“Sports, art, culture — so how do we get there? This sales tax is a step in that direction,” he said.

The city council will discuss details of the agreement between the city and Smith Entertainment Group on Tuesday, and a vote on the agreement could happen the second week of July.

KUTV reached out to the planning commission to see if any of them would go more in depth into why they voted against giving their recommendation, but they denied the interview request because of the ongoing negotiations.

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