Salt Lake County's $128 million parks bond is on the Nov. 3 ballot, and Herriman holds the only local projects on the county's list

SALT LAKE COUNTY — Voters in Salt Lake County will decide on Nov. 3 whether the county may issue up to $128 million in general obligation bonds for parks, trails, open space and recreation facilities.

The County Council adopted a resolution on Aug. 4, 2026, amended on Aug. 18, calling a local special bond election and putting the question to voters: whether the county may issue general obligation bonds "in an amount not to exceed $128,000,000," maturing in no more than eleven years, for "repairing, completing, acquiring, constructing or renovating open space, natural habitat, parks, community trails and recreational facilities" 1. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and the county lists polling hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 1.

The county's own breakdown of the spending is $35.8 million for repairs, $21.1 million to complete projects already started, $62.3 million to build new facilities, and $8.8 million held back as project contingency 1. The county counts 30 projects at 25 locations, including two new recreation centers, 29 miles of new trails, more than 1,000 new trees and eight pools that would be improved or expanded 1.

On cost, the county estimates an annual property tax of $16.39 on a primary residence with the county average value of $658,000, or about $1.37 a month, and $29.80 a year on a business or secondary residence of the same value 1. It states the net property tax increase as $0, on the reasoning that general obligation bonds the county is already repaying are expiring, so the new debt takes their place 1. The county also states the estimate is not a limit on the taxes it may be required to levy, and that bond money may not pay for daily operations: it projects average combined operating and maintenance costs of $4,710,200 a year for these facilities over their first ten years and says it will decide during its next budget cycle whether that requires budget cuts or a tax increase 1.

In Herriman, three of the 30 projects appear on the county list 2. The largest is $10,000,000 for Phase 1A of the Southwest Athletic Complex: two athletic fields, lighting, a restroom facility, paved parking with drop-off zones, landscape buffers along Teton Ranch Drive, storm drainage infrastructure, and a pedestrian trail connection under Mustang Way 2. $3,000,000 is listed for Phase 2 of the Butterfield Trailhead Regional Park, extending natural-surface multi-use trails into Butterfield Canyon with trail connections, drainage management, trailhead signage and environmental measures aligned with the Southwest Canyons Master Plan 2. A further $130,000 sits at the J.L. Sorenson Recreation Center for evaluating the pool fabric duct system, preparing construction documents and installing structural bracing for existing pool piping 2.

The athletic complex is a long-running proposal rather than a new one. Herriman's project page says the land is secured but that the complex "remains a proposal and is not currently funded or guaranteed," with its future dependent on significant external support such as funding partnerships with other public agencies or private entities 3. A feasibility study and market survey by Victus Advisors, engaged by the city in October 2022 and updated in 2025, estimated that a 16- to 18-field complex would capture current local and tournament demand and that 20 to 22 fields could be used within five to ten years; the same study put the project cost at $35.9 million for Phase 1 of six fields, $40.5 million for Phase 2 and $44.6 million for Phase 3 4. It estimated visitors from outside Salt Lake County could account for about 37 percent of attendance at full build, and put incremental tax revenue to the county at $790,000 a year 4. City staff gave the council an update on design work and on Salt Lake County grant applications for early project phases at the July 8 work meeting 5.

In January 2025, the Herriman council approved 5-0 a memorandum of understanding between the city, Teton Ranch, LLC, Olympia Land, LLC and Olympia Ranch, LLC, and approved an amendment to the Teton Ranch master development agreement that raised the maximum number of single-family residential units from 767 to 784 on about 270 acres 6. Deseret News reported the complex is planned to hold 14 athletic fields eventually, west of Mountain View Corridor between 11800 South and 12600 South, according to Jonathan LaFollette, the city's communications manager, who said the $10 million would cover most of the initial phase, that Phase 1A would encompass the first two fields with parking, restrooms and concessions able to host small tournaments, and that the finished complex would serve "South Jordan and Riverton and Bluffdale and West Jordan" as well as Herriman 7. The city projects the completed complex would raise nearly $600,000 in annual tax revenue for the county 7.

In adjacent West Jordan, the largest single item on the county list is the West Jordan Recreation Center at Ron Wood Regional Park, described by the county as a LEED Gold-certified facility with an indoor leisure and family pool, a sprung-wood double gymnasium, fitness and administrative space including an elevated running track, cardio and strength areas, studios, party rooms and parking, with space planned for a future competition pool and ice sheet 2. Deseret News reported that just under $25.7 million of the $28 million the council added goes to that center 7, and that the completed facility would carry an indoor leisure and family pool and a double gymnasium 2. Another item on the county list, $1,560,000 for Cougar Park in West Jordan, would replace the irrigation distribution system and a commercial double-check backflow preventer assembly 2.

That recreation center was added to the proposal late. The council initially approved a ceiling of $100 million on Aug. 4; on Aug. 18 it raised the total by $28 million, just under $25.7 million of which goes to the West Jordan center and $3.1 million to a Salt Lake City civic campus, according to Council Chairwoman Aimee Winder Newton as reported by Deseret News 7. Neither project had been recommended by the county's Recreation Bond Advisory Board 7. The amended resolution passed 7-1, with Councilman Carlos Moreno voting in opposition 7. West Jordan Mayor Dirk Burton, who had argued for the center earlier in the month, told the council, "This is so extremely important to West Jordan's residents," according to Deseret News 7. The city has reserved land at the Ron Wood site "for about 10 or 12 years, maybe longer," chief administrative officer Korban Lee told Deseret News, and Burton said residents on the city's western edge are several miles from the Gene Fullmer Fitness and Recreation Center 7. West Jordan said in its own August post that the council's vote moved the proposal forward and that "voters will have the final say on whether to approve the funding" 8. Work at Ron Wood Park is already under way separately: new artificial turf fields, expanded parking and added amenities are expected by spring 2027, with well construction scheduled for winter 2026, the city states 9.

For the rest of this paper's coverage area, the county list carries nothing. Bluffdale, South Jordan, Riverton and Draper do not appear as municipalities on the published project list 2. Asked why a given city may have no project, the county says it builds large regional parks and centers "for everyone to use, no matter where they live," that every city was asked to send in project ideas, and that a community board reviewed the submissions to spread projects fairly across the county 1. Earlier bond programmes show what the money has bought: the 2012 bond of up to $47 million built three regional parks — in Bluffdale, Draper and the West Valley/Kearns area — acquired land for a future park in Magna, and was designated to substantially complete the Jordan River Parkway Trail and Parley's Trail, at an estimated $5.63 a year on a residence valued at $238,000 10. The 2016 bond the county describes as the one the new borrowing would replace provided $59 million for 11 new projects and $31 million for maintenance and improvements; Deseret News reported in August that this year's bond would replace a previous bond approved in 2016 107.

The resolution also called a public hearing on the borrowing. The county's notice, dated Aug. 18, set that hearing for 6 p.m. on Oct. 6 in the Governmental Chambers, room N1-100, at 2001 South State Street in Salt Lake City, and directed written comments ahead of it to the County Council in care of the County Clerk at 2001 South State Street, N2-700 14. That hearing date is now past.

What happens next: voters decide the question on Nov. 3. If it passes, the county says it expects to issue the bonds as two series totaling approximately $128 million over the next five years, each issue maturing about ten years from issuance, and to determine during its next budget cycle whether operating and maintenance costs require budget cuts or a tax increase 1. The ballot question itself carries two boxes, "FOR THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS" and "AGAINST THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS" 1. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Oct. 12 that the council had initially approved up to $100 million and added funds to cover projects in West Jordan and Salt Lake City 11.

This paper's archive begins with its Sept. 28 report on the Herriman council's Aug. 26 meeting, which recorded the mayor telling the council that the Salt Lake County Council had approved recreation bond parameters including $10 million for the Southwest Athletic Complex 12; its Oct. 4 story listed the $128,000,000 bond question among the items before county voters on Nov. 3 13.