Rising tab for Unity Center upsets council
Tuesday the Salt Lake City Council learned that taxpayers will now have to front $230,000 annually to run the west-side community center instead of the $130,000 that Mayor Rocky Anderson's administration had quoted last month.
The rising cost of the center, on the corner of 900 West and California Avenue, is a growing concern. When Anderson proposed the center as a solution to the Main Street Plaza fray 2 1/2 years ago, the building wasn't supposed to cost taxpayers in ongoing operating costs.
"No, I'm not happy about it. We don't have much money," Councilwoman Nancy Saxton said. "It's hard to subsidize something else no matter how worthy it might be. I'm never happy when there's additional costs and subsidies to the taxpayers."
Council members seem increasingly concerned about adding a black-box theater to the facility — a move they say adds costs to the center's bottom line.
"My focus is are we doing more than we can afford to do here given our budget restraints in the city?" Councilman Dave Buhler said.
Anderson's administration has suggested that the $230,000 subsidy would be temporary, but after questioning by council members, staffers admitted they had no business plan that would make up the $230,000 in the future.
Anderson met with SLCC President Cynthia Bioteau last week, but Bioteau declined to commit the college to the Unity Center. The administration has pledged to find a new partner if SLCC backs out, but it's unclear who might be interested since the University of Utah has also considered the Unity Center but declined a commitment.
SLCC officials said Tuesday they remain interested but need to make the finances pan out. The city has reduced the price per square foot on rentals at the Unity Center to help make the project more attractive to potential partners.
SLCC may have to cover as much as $50,000 in annual rent if it wants to be come what SLCC spokesman Joy Tlou called the higher education "clearinghouse" for nontraditional students. School officials are looking into grant money to fund their involvement, the level of which is still unknown.
"We're still debating that," said Deneece Huftalin, SLCC vice president of student services.
SLCC officials began working with Anderson earlier this year on the concept of an SLCC presence at the Unity Center. Since then, Huftalin said, the price per square foot on rent has come down, making a partnership "more possible."
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