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Utah's Fiscal Future

What does the future hold for 2013? On Tuesday the Salt Lake Chamber and CBRE, the world’s largest real estate company delivered their economic outlook for the new year. Jessica Gail reports on why they say Utah residents should be optimistic but cautious.

Let’s sum up what 2012 looked like economically for Utah:

"We’ve recovered all of our jobs from the great recession. Our unemployment rate in the sixth lowest in the country, our job growth rate is the fifth highest," says Natalie Gochnour, Chief Economist for the Salt Lake Chamber. She says 2013 looks to be the same way, but there is a lot more risk involved.  "The European debt crisis, Asia slowing, the Fiscal cliff and the ongoing paralysis in Washington...if we can fix that I expect 2013 to be a very robust year."

There’s a lot riding on policy makers to make a compromise before the January 1 deadline. If that doesn’t happen, Gochnour says 90% of Utah households will experience a tax increase averaging $3,500 dollars annually.

Darin Mellott, Senior Analyst for CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate company, says while the country waits for Congress to make decisions in Washington, Utah already has the framework in place for a strong 2013.

"Over the last several years we have really seen a concentration of development in Utah’s tech sector along I-15 from Southern Salt Lake County to northern Utah County. I mean you drive through Lehi and you see a lot of construction going on and that’s directly related to the health tech sector in Utah."

He adds the largest project in the upcoming year will be the beginning of the  redevelopment of the Salt Lake City International Airport - which will total $2.2 billion when it is complete in 2024.