Despite state interest in throwing a financial lifeline to a struggling rural county, a state board balked at giving money to pay for planning a trail network over fears the money would further hurt jail-scandal rocked Daggett County.
“The quicker Daggett County can get this plan in place and use it to increase recreational tourism, the county will be better.”<br>— Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox
Members of the panel that distributes Utah’s share of federal mining royalties were also concerned about an entity fronting the application – the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (SCIC) – and its past methods of choosing contractors for lucrative projects.
After a lengthy round of rapid-fire questions, including whether the grant was too large for the work involved in planning, but not yet building, trails for recreation in the region, board members punted a decision until September, at the earliest.
But it was concern that the grant might lead the federal government to cut its payment to the county for lost taxable revenue due to the large amount of public land that gave pause even to Daggett County Commissioner Jack Lytle.
Utah’s least populated county — with about 1,100 residents — received $138,500 in the so-called PILT payments during the most recent budget, according to the Interior Department.
“We need to protect our PILT payment in the best sense of the word,” Lytle said. “If there is a way to do it within the law, we want to pursue that.”
Taylor Anderson | The Salt Lake Tribune Daggett County Commissioner Jack Lytle, left, will lead the sheriff's office in the wake of the resignation of Sheriff Jerry Jorgensen. The Commission, including member Clyde Slaugh, right, voted Tuesday to assume temporary control of the office until a replacement sheriff is appointed.
Lytle entered the Thursday meeting thinking his county – which consists of about 80 percent federal land – wouldn’t lose federal money if it benefited from the state grant.
Toward the end of debate over the request for $100,000 for trail planning, Assistant Attorney General Thom Roberts warned lost revenue was a possibility. He noted other counties have avoided losing the federal PILT money (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) by creating special districts or using existing ones to apply for grant funding.
“Utah is fairly well known for their efforts at minimizing PILT reductions,” Roberts said. ”One system they’ve developed is the system of special-service districts.”
Daggett County is going to consider its options for receiving $100,000 from the Community Impact Fund Board that distributes royalty money at its meeting next month without jeopardizing the federal revenue. Officials from Utah State Parks have already promised $100,000 toward the trails effort.
The attention comes as high-ranking state officials, including Gov. Gary Herbert, have targeted Daggett County for economic development following the indefinite closure of its money-making jail, which had accounted for about a third of Daggett’s budget.
The Department of Corrections, which contracts with most counties to house state prisoners in their jails, removed all 80 of its inmates from the Daggett County jail in February following alleged prisoner abuse by correctional officers and jail management. The scandal led to the resignation of former Sheriff Jerry Jorgensen, who subsequently was charged.
The county is now debating a possible future without a jail, and state officials are looking for ways to drive development in one of Utah’s most remote counties.
Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune Daggett County Jail near Manilla, in Daggett County on September 25, 2007.
Included in its application to the board was a July 19 letter from Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, who called the concept of driving recreational tourism to Daggett County ”a great idea,” and he hoped the trail planning could be finished by year’s end.
“If state trails folks are willing to match those funds, that is how government should work to help the private sector,” Cox wrote. ”Please know that I believe this to be an important project and the quicker Daggett County can get this plan in place and use it to increase recreational tourism, the county will be better.”
Lytle said the county needed the funds as quickly as possible because of ongoing planning by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service that will guide the future of the federal land in northeastern Utah.
Mike McKee, SCIC executive director, said the proposal would benefit multiple counties in the region by connecting their off-road trails through the Uinta Mountains. McKee is a former Uintah County Commissioner and also was a member of royalty-allocating Community Impact Board.
The trail-funding request came from McKee’s group, which works for regional construction and economic development projects. Lytle is a member of the group’s board.
It was the group’s past that drew fierce questioning from the Community Impact Board, including State Treasurer David Damschen. For the second straight month, Damschen lobbed questions about past SCIC expenditures and the process used to award contracts paid for by public money.
“I continue to have concerns about procurement where the coalition is concerned,” Damschen said. “We learned last month that [legal] counsel to the coalition has been paid over $400,000 ... without competitive procurement.”
Other board members also noted Daggett County commissioned a study of its potential for using the surrounding Ashley National Forest for 450 miles of mountain bike trails.
Aaron Averett, who works for Sunrise Engineering in Vernal, said the work would involve taking existing mapping and coming up with a plan to create and connect trails for hiking, biking and off-road vehicles.
Lytle said he was hopeful any future trails developed would draw more visitors to the mountains, forests and shores of the Flaming Gorge in the near future, bringing more money into the county’s foundering economy.
For now, though, Lytle said, the county couldn’t pay for even planning such a network.
