SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Transit Authority continues to refuse to provide details about retirement benefits for its former top executive, John Inglish. Candidates for governor and Salt Lake County mayor have weighed in, saying the documents should be released.

Last spring, UTA CEO John Inglish quietly retired from a post that paid him more than $300,000 making him one of the nation's top paid transit executives.

For weeks, KSL and the Deseret News have asked for information on his retirement package, but UTA has denied a request under the Government Records Access and Management Act for details. KSL and the Deseret News have appealed that decision.

"I understand that our records and legal department has deemed that information to be private per their understanding of state law, statute and precedent," said UTA spokesperson Gerry Carpenter.

UTA says according to its retirement plan, Inglish is due 2 percent of his average salary the past five years multiplied by his 35 years of service. That comes out to about $205,000 per year. But the agency wouldn't confirm that number and instead simply directing us to their website.

UTA's multi-million dollar budget is funded largely by taxpayers of Salt Lake County. Utah's governor appoints a member to UTA's board. KSL asked both candidates for governor and Salt Lake County mayor their opinions.

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"I think my salary as a public employee is open to the public," said Ben McAdams, Democratic mayoral candidate. "I think it should be available for all public eyes to see."

He said that UTA is a public entity and that "transparency is part of how we do business."

Republican mayoral candidate Mark Crockett agreed, calling the agency a "quasi-governmental organization. "I think we need to know everything we need to know to decide whether we trust the organization, whether they're spending our money well."

Candidates for the governor of Utah also stressed transparency. Peter Cooke, running on the Democratic ticket, said "everything in my office will be transparent. You can walk into my office and ask me any question."

"I believe we should have openness and transparency as much as possible," said Governor Gary Herbert. "I don't know what the personnel issues are there, if there's potential litigation, lawsuits. That's something the (UTA) board should talk to you about. That's something I'm not privy to know."

So far, UTA insists that even though Inglish's retirement benefits are funded by the public, details shouldn't be available to the public.

The appeal now goes to UTA's board of trustees. If the public records request is again denied, the next step is the state records board.

Through UTA, John Inglish declined to comment.

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