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Show Should city funds be spent for economic development? If you are visiting Park City for the first time, and you need directions or information, where do you go? The obvious answer, of course, is the old City Hall building on Main Street, where the Park City Chamber Bureau has a first-floor booth. But there's one basic problem with that location. You may have to ask for directions to find it in the first place. The logical place to put an information booth is at the edge of town. And that's exactly what John Miiller, executive vice president of Deer Valley Resort, told the city council at a recent Capital Improvements Budget work session. Miiller said the Top Stop gas station and convenience store (the old Conoco gas station) now serves as an unofficial information booth. What's needed, he said, is something that's a little more official, a little more complete. He's right. Now that we've gone out of our way to persuade people to come to Park City, the least we can do is show them around once they get here. The question then becomes: Who pays for it? Miiller and Debby Symonds, executive director for the Park City Chamber Bureau, have asked the city to set aside $100,000 from this year's Capital Improvements Budget so that an information center could be in operation by next ski season. When you're looking at a budget of $2.3 million, $100,000 may not seem like a staggering amount. Nevertheless, it's an item that deserves a little more discussion before the council gives its stamp of approval. First of all, why is there such a big hurry? If this money were going for flood control or emergency road repairs, a :' good case could be made for slipping it into the budget at , the last minute. But an information center hardly fits into that category. The city's long-range plan had called for an information center to be funded in 1987. What has happened to explain this sudden switch in priorities? For every item that is included in a budget, something else is eliminated or delayed. Could that money have been better spent on something which directly benefitted the residents? Road repairs? An indoor recreation facility? But the central issue here isn't really the timing of this proposal or the council's budget priorities. It's the role of the council in serving tourism in particular and economic development in general. Last summer, when the city allocated $125,000 from Resort Cities Sales Tax revenues to be used by the Chamber Bureau, the Record wondered whether money designed to mitigate the impact of tourism should be used to promote tourism. And some of the same issues apply here, Granted, a visitor information center isn't exactly a tourist promotion, It's more of a public service. And it should be noted that Deer Valley and the Park City Ski Area have each offered to donate $5,000 toward construction costs. But the question remains. How much should residents, who may not be tied to tourism, be expected to contribute to a partnership between their local government and a private organization dedicated to bringing more people to town? And, taking another perspective, how much help should people whose livelihood depends on tourism expect to receive from public funds? First with its creation of the Park City Redevelopment Agency, now with its ties to the ChamberBureau, the city council has shown a willingness to use public funds to bolster Park City's economy. Is that a legitimate use of public money? As Park City continues to develop as a bedroom community for the Wasatch Front, with a growing number of people whose income is not tied to the local economy, this question is bound to be asked again and again. dh |