UTA passes budget that increases spending by 13.3 percent

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) One of UTA's Utah Valley Express (UVX) buses makes a stop in Orem, Tuesday Sept. 25, 2018.The new Utah Transit Authority board passed a 2019 operations budget Wednesday that includes a big 13.3 percent spending increase — thanks in part to a sales tax hike just imposed by Salt Lake County, and direct contributions from that county and Salt Lake City to increase service in their areas.

The budget goes from $403.1 million to $456.8 million. Fares will remain unchanged.

More than a quarter of all money will go to pay interest on the agency’s $2 billion debt — incurred in recent decades essentially as a mortgage to accelerate building its TRAX and…