St. George • A southern Utah city is being investigated over allegations that an elected official misused taxpayer dollars to buy tickets to Utah Tech University athletic events and purchase a sports sponsorship.
In an Oct. 2 email to Washington City officials, a copy of which The Salt Lake Tribune obtained from City Council member Troy Belliston, officials with the Utah state auditor’s office asked the city to account for nearly $15,000 spent in recent years to pay for season passes to Utah Tech football and basketball games, an athletic sponsorship and tickets to a university fundraiser.
Matt Edwards, a senior auditor with the state, informed city officials in the email that they had 10 days to explain the purpose of the purchases. Specifically, state auditors want to know the details concerning the $7,200 the city spent in 2022 for university athletic events, including $3,000 for six season passes to football games and $4,200 for luxury seats “with hospitality” for basketball games.
In addition, according to the email, Edwards wants city officials to explain the $1,200 allocated in 2023 to buy Utah Tech basketball season tickets, the $5,512 spent in January for an athletic sponsorship, and the $1,000 the city coughed up to purchase two $500-a-plate tickets to a March 22 athletic fundraiser at the university.
Washington City officials confirmed receipt of the email and say they are cooperating with investigators. Moreover, State Auditor John Dougall confirmed his office is investigating Washington City but refused to elaborate.
“We have not concluded our investigation, and we don’t talk about ongoing investigations,” Dougall said. “...Once we wrap up [the investigation], I’ll be able to speak more.”
Were the purchases ‘illegal’?
The investigation into the fast-growing city of nearly 34,000 residents stems from a complaint Belliston lodged with Dougall’s office in which he alleged longtime council member Kurt Ivie has repeatedly acted unilaterally — without other council members’ knowledge — to direct staff to make what Belliston labeled “illegal” purchases.
Ivie denies the allegations, which he attributes to animus between him and Belliston. He said his council colleague’s accusation that he is misusing taxpayers to get tickets is ludicrous, especially since he sits on Utah Tech’s athletic board and already receives free tickets to games for his service.
Mayor Kress Staheli, Ivie and other city officials acknowledge the purchases and don’t dispute the amounts but say the transactions were not improper and were conducted with the full City Council knowledge.
Washington City has acquired tickets to university athletic events for years, but those were typically secured through trades rather than for cash, according to city officials. For example, the city would often get athletic tickets in exchange for giving the university recreation passes to a city community center.
But when the university transitioned from NCAA Division II to Division I status in 2019, the rules changed and cash — not in-kind trades — became the only allowable currency. In short, if city officials wanted tickets, they would have to pay for them.
Belliston, who has been on the council since January, told The Tribune he began looking into the city’s finances after some staffers complained about spending irregularities. He said his research shows that Ivie arranged with Utah Tech in 2022 to buy the $7,200 in football and basketball tickets and directed staffers to pay for it without other council members’ knowledge. Because money for the purchase was not in the budget, he alleges, staffers had to use funding that was supposed to pay Qualtrics for an employee survey.
Belliston alleges Ivie also kept control of the tickets, telling others he paid for them, and doled them out to council members and others to impress them or curry favor.
“That was kind of his way to show off and act like a big man, to have season pass tickets and hand them out to people,” Belliston said. “He represented to staff members and other people that he had paid for them.”
Belliston further alleges that Ivie was instrumental in getting nearly $10,000 to pay for a Utah Tech athletic sponsorship included in the city’s fiscal 2024 budget. He also said $5,512.50 of that total went for the sponsorship and that Ivie directed staffers — again without the council’s knowledge — to use the remainder to pay $1,200 for basketball season tickets and $3,084 for six football season tickets.
Finally, Belliston said Ivie directed the city recorder to pay $1,000 with a city credit card so he and a daughter could attend the $500-a-plate Fire and Ice fundraiser the university athletic department hosted last March. He said Ivie should have paid for his family member’s ticket.
“If the government says they want me to go to a conference, I can take my wife,” Belliston explained. “But I have to pay for every bit of her expenses. It’s illegal for me to take my wife and have the taxpayer pay for it. ... Had any staff member, at any level, done any of these things or spent any money similar to this, we would be terminating and prosecuting them.”
Belliston further contends the mayor, who is Ivie’s nephew, was aware of some of the transactions and did nothing to rein in his uncle.
Underhanded dealing or over-the-top allegations?
For his part, Washington City Manager Jeremy Redd does not want to get in the middle of an intra-council squabble but said he disagrees with Belliston’s contention that the purchases were illegal. He said the money for such purchases were allocated in the budget and approved by the council.
“You can have an argument over whether or not that is a good use of city funds,” Redd said, “but I disagree that it is an improper use of funds.”
The city manager added that the accusation that no other council members knew about the budget items is wrong, noting that Belliston wasn’t on the elected body when they were approved.
Staheli, the mayor, also disputed Belliston’s allegations, saying council members approved the budget, which included money for purchases of tickets, sponsorships and other community events. Staheli said council members unanimously approved them a second time in their subsequent board audit report, which lists and reviews expenditures.
(Washington City) Washington City Mayor Kress Staheli.
“Every expenditure with Utah Tech has been done in line with budget, budgeted categories, and according to policy,” he said, “and it has been confirmed by approval of the board audit report.”
Council member Craig Coats concurs, saying Utah Tech expenditures are listed in the budget.
“Now do I know everything that goes on with every line item?” he asked. “No, but I know the gist of them.”
Staheli further defended having elected officials involved in the community, pointing out that he tasked Ivie at the time with maintaining the city’s relationship with Utah Tech, which the mayor said has been beneficial for both parties.
“We go to a lot of community events in order to interact with leaders of the community and further the interest of Washington City,” the mayor said, adding it is appropriate for city officials to interact with university and community leaders.
Staheli said Belliston’s assertion that he, as mayor, is not reining in Ivie due to their family relationship is merely an opinion, and an inaccurate one at that. The mayor said he regularly talks with council members if they are out of line but does so “privately and appropriately.”
Conversely, while Ivie said he already receives free tickets to Utah Tech athletic events, he and the mayor acknowledge that he was in charge of the tickets purchased by the city and could allocate them to people who wanted to attend the games.
As for Belliston’s assertion that Ivie directed staffers to buy a university athletic sponsorship and tap part of the money to get more football and basketball tickets, Ivie noted that the budget expenditure was approved by the council.
Council member Kimberly Casperson said money for the Utah Tech sponsorship had been included in the budget for years.
“As part of the sponsorship,” Casperson wrote in an email, “Washington City had employee-appreciation nights for all employees at different Utah Tech games. There were also tickets which could be used by anyone at the city.”
Concerning the Fire and Ice fundraiser, Ivie said his daughter attended the event with him when another council member canceled, and he couldn’t find anyone else to go.
“She did it as a favor to me because she didn’t want me to go alone,” he said. “I would have rather not gone, to be honest.”
Sour grapes, calls for resignation
(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) Washington City Hall, shown in 2023. The state auditor is investigating city spending on sports tickets.
Ivie chalks up Belliston’s actions to sour grapes. He said Belliston is upset because the council rejected the new council member’s request to approve a measure that would have allowed bars on property he owns and plans to develop at the intersection of Washington Parkway and Grapevine Crossing Road. Ivie voted against the request, which was deadlocked until the mayor cast the deciding vote to nix the proposal.
For his part, Belliston said that vote came months after he had notified council members of Ivie’s “illegal behavior” in an April 8 email and called on Ivie to resign in a closed-door April 10 council meeting.
“If this was sour grapes about some bar overlay, the dates don’t work,” Belliston said. “This is about accountability. ... Whether or not you believe that Kurt Ivie’s actions are illegal, as I do, at best they are a gross affront to the taxpayer that has been funding his extracurricular activities.”
While council members did not heed calls for Ivie’s resignation, they have opted to discontinue buying tickets to Utah Tech athletic events and paying for sponsorships going forward, according to Staheli and other city officials. They also have agreed — in principle rather than as a change to written policy — that all council members must sign off on big-ticket expenditures.
Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
