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John Daley ReportingUtah's largest cities and counties are spending over a million dollars a year to hire lobbyists to make their case with state lawmakers. And one government watchdog group is raising red flags.
The Utah Taxpayers Association says it's a waste of money, that state agencies can't hire lobbyists, and that cities and counties are already paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in dues to their own organizations to do the same thing.
On Capitol Hill there's a virtual army of lobbyists, often mingling in the halls, looking to bend the ear of a lawmaker, and attempting to steer legislation on behalf of a client.
The Utah Taxpayers Association released a report today, finding of 30 cities surveyed nearly half hired lobbyists and paid nearly 400-thousand dollars total in state lobbying in 2005.
Five counties--Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber and Tooele--combined spent over 200-thousand dollars on lobbying on Utah's Capitol Hill.
Sandy and Salt Lake County are spending well over 150-thousand dollars a year on Capitol Hill lobbyists. West Valley City, Salt Lake City and Ogden round out the top five.
Andrew Stephenson, Utah Taxpayers Assn.: "Absolutely, it's a problem taxpayers should be aware of. They should be aware that elected officials are simply hiring other people to do their job."
John Hiskey, Deputy Mayor, Sandy: "We have found it very productive for the city and for the taxpayers. The utilization has resulted in improvements on I-15 that might not have happened had we not had that capability: the 106th south interchange, the underpass behind us, 114th south. Found significant benefit for that investment."
There is legislation in the works to ban local governments from hiring contract lobbyists. The Taxpayers Association says this is a growing trend. The cities and counties they looked at spent a hundred thousand dollars more this year on lobbying Capitol Hill than last year.
