At three Tuesday-night meetings, Utah County cities in the UTOPIA consortium -- the publicly owned fiber-optics network -- considered whether to obligate taxpayers on a plan that would extend bond guarantees from 20 years to 33 years.

Orem, Lindon and Payson city councils discussed whether to refinance their UTOPIA debt. In the worst-case scenario, cities could be on the hook for $503 million. For Orem, that's $109 million; Lindon, $15 million; Payson, $12 million.

If UTOPIA makes money, the cities won't owe anything. Bonds would be guaranteed by tax dollars as a back-up that would be tapped only if UTOPIA goes under.

The Payson City Council voted against the UTOPIA request, and the Lindon City Council voted to extend bond guarantees Tuesday.

"I'm like everyone else, I want a guarantee," said Councilman Toby Bath. "And I'm really uncomfortable with this. We took a chance once, and it didn't work. If we take this second chance, and it fails, shame on us."

Also on Tuesday night, the Provo Municipal Council made a decision regarding its city-owned fiber-optic system. The council approved a measure creating a committee to investigate iProvo and what should be done about its flagging numbers ahead of city budget planning.

"We're going to be facing some momentous decisions on the iProvo network that we have during the upcoming budget season," said George O. Stewart, councilman and chairman of the new committee. "The purpose of this committee is to be mostly financial. We're not going to discuss the technical aspects."

The committee will be composed of members of the Municipal Council, community business owners and state lawmakers -- including Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, and Utah Republican Party Chairman Stan Lockhart. Stewart said the committee will have authority to subpoena people to answer questions about the network, if necessary.

Ben Gould, president of Mstar, one of the iProvo service providers, said it's encouraging that the council is taking a serious look at the issue.

Voting on UTOPIA financing in Orem occurred after deadline Tuesday. For more on the UTOPIA decisions, log on to www.heraldextra.com.