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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah state lawmakers are set to receive new taxpayer-paid cell phones next week.
The Deseret News reports the money for those BlackBerrys -- plus funds for new laptop computers the lawmakers received earlier this year -- was approved years ago, when the state had extra money.
The state currently faces up to $1 billion in deficits. The new cell phone and service contract will cost around $145,000 a year, which is actually cheaper than the previous one.
All the phones will have GPS available, but lawmakers who use it will pay for it themselves. They will also pay for other extras like international calls.
