Cedar Hills struggled with $3 million worth of recreation angst on Tuesday.

Remember the good ol' days when a soda could be had for two shiny quarters? Turns out even $3 million doesn't buy much recreation any more, either.

Last year, following a survey that showed overwhelming support for a tri-city recreation center to be built, potentially, on state land and shared by Alpine, Highland and Cedar Hills, Cedar Hills asked its sister cities to allow residents to vote on a tax increase to get the project done.

Last week, that proposal was still struggling for traction in Alpine as Council members there said the mere mention of a tax increase would upset residents. Highland hasn't exactly jumped on Cedar Hills's bandwagon either.

On Tuesday, Cedar Hills responded, saying that though the city has saved $3 million in impact fees over 10 years toward the project, without the support of its neighbors, there might be little to build.

Three million dollars might purchase "say, racquetball courts and a splash pad," said Cedar Hills City Manager Konrad Hildebrandt.

Despite the challenges, Cedar Hills Council members directed staff on Tuesday to create a timeline of what needs to be done to have a June ballot on the issue in Cedar Hills, if not all three cities.

What Cedar Hills dreams of is a recreation center and aquatics complex akin to what Orem, American Fork and Lehi have built for millions more. On Tuesday, Council members were not willing to give up that dream, even as they agreed that support from Alpine and Highland has been "lukewarm at best," a sea change from when "they were willing to have skin in the game," Hildebrandt said.

And while Council members said they are not ready to give up on convincing the other two cities to hold a special bond election this June, Cedar Hills needs to begin to think about moving forward alone, with its savings and downsized dreams.

Alpine in particular last week focused on the fact that Cedar Hills has not been able to estimate how much Alpine's share of a rec center might be.

"Unless we can put it out to the voters" to see who seriously has skin in the game, so to speak, "we don't know what the cost is going to be," said Hildebrandt on Tuesday.

Cedar Hills Mayor Mike McGee said a recent Daily Herald article detailing Alpine concerns that a rec center might mean a $300-a-year property tax increase brought a flurry of calls to him from concerned Cedar Hills residents fearing the same potential fate.

"We are not in that place," McGee said, noting the $3 million the city has banked toward the project already. "There may be some property tax ramifications, but we don't know what that is until we come up with a project. Some people were up in arms."

Cedar Hills residents too would have to approve any property tax hike for a rec center at the polls, Hildebrandt said.

Council members spent some time debating, without coming to consensus, about whether, if forced to go it alone, Cedar Hills should build a small center and disallow outside residents from using it, or build a larger center and welcome outside residents in the hopes of making enough extra money to fund the expansion.

"That will cost more, and we will be the ones holding the bond on that," Hildebrandt said.

"We can do something on our own, but not a lot," said McGee. Several Council members said repeatedly that municipal recreation centers never operate in the black, requiring city subsidies of up to 40 percent.

Councilman Eric Richardson said that because Cedar Hills is at build-out, the city is never going to add much to its $3 million stash, and the longer the city waits to spend the money, the higher construction costs are going to be.