Utah billionaire Ryan Smith has made no secret of his desire to make downtown Salt Lake City cooler.

His vision: transform a huge section of downtown into a sports and entertainment district anchored by the Utah Mammoth and Utah Jazz, surrounded by restaurants, hotels, convention space and new development.

At one point, that vision appeared to put Abravanel Hall in jeopardy. Who needs ballet, opera and symphony when you have NHL hockey? Public resistance helped preserve the hall, but Smith’s larger redevelopment ambitions moved forward.

The renderings are dazzling. So are the numbers.

Salt Lake City approved a half-percent sales-tax increase to help finance the downtown sports, entertainment, culture and convention district surrounding Smith Entertainment Group’s Delta Center. That mechanism could generate roughly $900 million.

Utah lawmakers subsequently created a financing path for reconstruction of the Salt Palace Convention Center and surrounding public infrastructure, a project estimated at approximately $1 billion.

These aren’t two billion-dollar checks handed to Ryan Smith. The Salt Palace is publicly owned, and much of that money would pay for convention facilities and public infrastructure.

But there is another side of this story almost nobody is talking about.

Last winter, I watched hundreds of residents pack Salt Lake County Council meetings to protest Mayor Jenny Wilson’s proposed property-tax increase.

Many were seniors living primarily on Social Security, pensions and savings. They weren’t talking about economic-development projections. They were talking about groceries, utilities and whether they could afford to remain in their homes.

The county initially sought nearly a 20-percent increase in property-tax revenue. After intense opposition, the County Council reduced it — but still approved a 14.65-percent increase for 2026.

County officials emphasize that Salt Lake County represents only about 17 percent of a typical property-tax bill and estimate its increase costs the owner of an average $638,000 home less than $6 per month.

But seniors don’t pay bills in percentages. They pay them in dollars.

Property-tax bills also include cities, school districts and other taxing entities, while homeowners face rising insurance, utilities, groceries and other necessities.

I’ve seen what this means at the Millcreek Senior Center.

Some seniors depend upon the center’s inexpensive lunches to stretch their food budgets. I’ve watched people fill takeout containers with extra spaghetti and meatballs because today’s leftovers can become tomorrow’s meal.

Millcreek Senior Center patron Jack Deke questions why existing homeowners should pay more when thousands of new apartments and condominiums are expanding the tax base.

“With the new apartments/condos being built and the handouts to billionaires, given the increase in property tax revenue, I’m not convinced a raise in tax for existing properties is appropriate,” Demke said. “We are the long-standing taxpayers being nickel and dimed beyond reason.”

Another senior, John, put it more starkly:

“We will have to sell our house because the taxes and insurance part of our house payment is now double our principal and interest portion,” he said. “The total house payment is unaffordable unless we give up eating.”

Here is the irony.

As housing becomes increasingly unaffordable, taxpayers are spending millions subsidizing housing for people who can no longer afford market-rate rents.

Utah provides $5 million annually through its Attainable Housing Grants program to support roughly 400 deeply affordable rental units.

Salt Lake City’s Community Reinvestment Agency approved approximately $8.1 million in low-interest loans supporting 595 affordable homes, including more than 200 deeply affordable units. Two months later, another $6.4 million was approved to support affordable homeownership.

Some of this spending is undoubtedly necessary. But consider the cycle we’ve created.

The government raises taxes on existing homeowners. Seniors living on largely fixed incomes face those taxes alongside rising insurance, utilities and food costs. When people can no longer afford housing, the government spends millions more subsidizing affordable housing.

Increasingly, those struggling are seniors. Utah’s latest homelessness data showed that while homelessness declined overall, it worsened among older Utahns.

The people I’ve watched saving spaghetti and meatballs aren’t asking the government to build them subsidized apartments. They’re trying to remain self-sufficient in homes and communities they’ve occupied for decades.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to help longtime homeowners remain financially independent before taxes and living expenses push them toward needing government-subsidized housing?

What Are Our Priorities?

Officials can correctly argue these programs use different revenue streams. Salt Palace financing isn’t the same as property taxes, and affordable-housing money can’t necessarily be transferred to property-tax relief.

But taxpayers experience the cumulative result.

A few miles from the Millcreek Senior Center, political leaders envision a billion-dollar convention center and spectacular entertainment district championed by one of Utah’s wealthiest citizens.

At the senior center, someone is putting leftover spaghetti and meatballs into a container because it might save the cost of dinner.

Maybe Smith’s vision will work. Maybe a transformed Salt Palace and entertainment district will generate enormous economic benefits.

If that’s the argument, let’s have the entire debate.

How much should the government take from today’s taxpayers to build the city politicians and billionaires envision for tomorrow?

Affordable housing is important. A vibrant downtown is important. But the cheapest senior housing program is the one that allows seniors to afford the homes and apartments they already have.

*Feature Image from Adobe Stock.