The Tooele and Grantsville city councils approved a small increase in their municipal sales tax rate to fund UTA operations in the two cities. The new tax offsets a tax break the Utah State Legislature approved on some food items earlier this year.

The food tax, which went into effect last winter, changed the way prepared food, such as deli items, was taxed. The tax reduction was intended to save Utahns money at grocery store check-out lines, but it also took away money that was earmarked for public transportation.

"One of the things that was discovered is that the transit tax would be impacted," said Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy.

The transit tax -- in addition to rider fares -- funds UTA and is needed to ensured continued route service.

Tooele and Grantsville cities already pay one-quarter of one percent (0.25 percent) sales tax to the transit tax fund. This is money that the state collects and then reappropriates. The new increase would raise that amount to three tenths of one percent (.30 percent).

"The increase does not give [UTA] more money, it holds the level of service the same," Dunlavy told city council members last night.

Without the tax increase, UTA officials said they would have been forced to reduce service to the two towns.

UTA recently added new buses and additional buses to its Tooele County service. UTA also has future plans to increase routes and add a garage in Tooele.

Tooele City Council deliberated for a few minutes on the new ordinance.

"This is an example of the infinite wisdom of the State Legislature," said Tooele City councilman Scott Wardle. "They could have fixed this in the special session, but instead they put it back on the cities to deal with."

A representative from UTA, Justin Jones, attended the Grantsville City Council meeting last night to explain the transit tax and answer questions from the councilmen. Jones asserted that even with the tax increase, residents will come out ahead, since savings from the food tax will be greater than the increase in the sales tax for an average taxpayer. Granstville also voted to pass the new tax.