Poll: How Utahns wants state to spend federal COVID-19 relief money

Infrastructure projects are a top priority for most Utahns as heads of state should spend billions on federal COVID-19 relief funds coming to Utah.

A new poll by Deseret News / Hinckley Institute of Politics found that 23% of Utahns would like Utah lawmakers to spend the money on infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, and buildings. 19% of Utahns believe that funds are best spent on education.

Not far behind, about 18% said the money should be spent on PPP loans to help businesses recover from the recession, and 12% said the money should be used on rent relief and housing assistance.

A smaller number of Utahns would like the money to be spent in other ways. 7% prioritize the health care response to COVID-19, 2% for higher unemployment benefits, and 2% for arts and cultural organizations that were unable to operate due to the pandemic.

About 9% say they are not sure how to spend their money and 7% said “other”.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen conducted a poll of 1,000 registered Utah voters for Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah March 26-31. Survey questions have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The poll is ahead of a special session this spring where Utah lawmakers will decide how to spend a “staggering” amount of money from the $ 1.9 trillion congressional coronavirus package passed last month. According to estimates by state financial analysts, the US comprehensive rescue plan will send an estimated US $ 7 billion to US $ 8 billion to the state of Utah. Of this, the state government stands at an estimated 1.5 billion US dollars and the local government stands at 1 billion US dollars.

“You lost your mind in Washington”

Utah’s all-Republican Congress delegation voted against the spending bill, saying it was wasteful, saddling future generations with insurmountable debt, and largely unnecessary in a state with one of the healthiest economies in the country. The Utah GOP legislature also raised concerns about the long-term impact of the massive spending package, but said that now that Utah receives the funds, it will ensure that they invest it wisely.

“We will be sure of the funding and use it as much as possible for the benefit of the state,” House spokesman Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, told Deseret News.

“But I think they went crazy in Washington, DC. Who in the world is going to pay for all of this and how are we going to pay for it? … Utah is in such good financial shape right now that we would be fine without this money, but we will use it as best we can. “

Senate President Stuart Adams said he was also “very concerned” about inflation and rising interest rates. “So we have to think long-term, not short-term.”

Wilson said that while Utah doesn’t necessarily need stimulus money, it will need it so that Congress doesn’t reward “bad behavior” by states that are not as fiscally responsible as Utah.

Despite the pandemic for which heads of state blamed the state’s already strong economies and the state’s “balanced” approach to COVID-19 restrictions, Utah led the way in 2020 revenue growth in 2020 Country.

On Wednesday, April 7, 2021, traffic will flow along the overpasses at the intersection of I-80 and I-15 in South Salt Lake. Steve Griffin, Deseret News

Expect more infrastructure investments

Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute, said poll results are to be expected as roads and education are often the main topic for Utahns.

“These are very close to home,” Perry said, also noting that President Joe Biden and his administration have also discussed major infrastructure investments at the national level. “So it makes sense that it goes down well here at home too.”

Speaking of the poll, Adams, R-Layton, jokingly asked the Deseret News, “Are the people who answered these poll questions lawmakers? I think the public is pretty smart. ”

He said the poll results are pretty much in line with what lawmakers are likely to prioritize in the upcoming special session. Because the aid is one-time, Adams said lawmakers will likely spend it on one-time infrastructure projects “because infrastructure is one of the greatest needs we have as a state.”

“We’re growing so fast. We are one of the fastest growing states in the nation. Because of this growth, we need to build an infrastructure, ”he said.

Legislators already budgeted massive amounts – nearly $ 1 billion in one-time cash and $ 264 million in bonds – for infrastructure earlier this year, but not as much as leaders originally wanted.

Wilson also said infrastructure will likely be a top priority – but the real question for lawmakers is how to fund these construction projects without “raising inflation concerns.”

“There is already so much pressure on construction costs that if we are not really careful about how we use this (money) we could create massive inflation problems for the government, individuals and businesses, and we don’t want to do that” said Wilson.

With large infrastructure investments also being discussed at the national level, the spokesman said that construction inflation is not a problem localized in Utah.

“We make fun of us when we think these inflation concerns are only in Utah,” he said. “It’s a problem everywhere. There is a shortage of building materials, labor shortages and dramatic inflation in every state, and now we are adding trillions in extra infrastructure spending at a time when we are already facing dramatic bottlenecks. I do not get it. ”

Utah lawmakers have until 2024 to get the funds to market. Wilson said they need to be strategic about how to spend them.

“We have a couple of years to use this money. I think we’ll deal with the biggest requirements first. Is it streets Rail? Technology? What are the needs and then where do we have some gaps? “Said Wilson.

Water projects – particularly funding for secondary water metering – should be a high priority for stimulus funding, Wilson and Adams said.

The secondary water measurement is “a really interesting idea and one that I think it’s time to have a conversation about,” said Wilson. “Not necessarily a charge for using it, but starting the measurement so people can understand how much water they are using.”

That could cost at least $ 100 million, maybe double, Wilson said, but lawmakers are still investigating what that investment could mean and whether it would stretch across the Wasatch front.

“For a desert state, this could be the highest and best use of that money,” said Wilson.

Adams said it was “nice to be able to do something with funding that is cross-generational,” and also pointed out the needs of water infrastructure.

“Maybe some metrics that will help us save – that will be key to our water development,” he said.

Other priorities

As for other priorities listed in the survey, both Adams and Wilson said that education was already receiving a large chunk of federal funding direct, so they were non-committal about whether lawmakers would pump additional funding from the state government.

“We will monitor this,” said Adams.

Utah lawmakers invested historic sums of money in education earlier this year, Wilson noted. He added that education needs ongoing money, not one-time funding.

When it comes to business support loans, both Adams and Wilson will say lawmakers will likely seek to fund more support for businesses that are particularly hard hit, particularly in the entertainment and hospitality industries.

“You were devastated,” said Adams. “We’ll probably turn around a bit and focus on these companies and try to focus on the ones that are still badly injured.”

Also, on housing and rental support, Adams and Wilson have made no commitments as to whether this issue will receive more funding, although they did not rule it out. Legislators pumped around $ 50 million into affordable housing and homelessness earlier this year.

“We’re going to look at this,” said Adams. “The only bad thing about a good economy is house prices, and that’s what we’ll keep looking at. I’m not sure we have a real solution to this, but I think we’ll do everything we can to help with rent relief and housing. ”

Wilson said there might be an “opportunity to consider more funding for housing issues,” but it’s not clear what those investments will look like. He said pumping too much money into the real estate market could also exacerbate inflation for construction, and it will take years to take full advantage of the $ 50 million already invested.

“It’s just amazing what’s going on in the real estate market,” said Wilson. “It’s creepy. It’s really scary for people who don’t have a home or are about to move, but it will take years for them to work their way through the system.”

Wilson said heads of state may try to fund additional grants “to address the housing shortage and affordable housing,” perhaps more money into the state housing maintenance fund or the Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund.

“The challenge is that it has to be spent in the next few years and we’ve already put a lot of money into the program,” said Wilson. “We’ll have to see how much we can realistically use in the next few years.”

Though it was lower in the poll, Wilson and Adams said lawmakers also need to invest more in health care responses to COVID-19 to keep vaccination rollouts and testing going.

Wilson said lawmakers could also have some conversation about “what we can do to prepare for another health crisis like this one and whether we should make other investments” or whether the state should prepare for other types of emergencies like earthquakes .

“So we’ll see how it all works out,” he said.