Salt Lake City — An audit of the Utah Transit Authority released yesterday showed gross mismanagement of taxpayer funds, leading one good government group to speak out about potential conflicts of interest between UTA and the state legislature.
The audit, requested by the state legislature, will likely be the subject of intense discussion at a UTA board meeting scheduled to occur Wednesday afternoon. Ahead of today’s meeting, Alliance for a Better UTAH has released the following statement:
“The legislative audit suggests gross mismanagement of taxpayer funds, a shocking disregard of the fiduciary responsibilities of a board of directors, and a disappointing level of indifference to conflicts of interest between board members, developers and even a sitting legislator.
“It is especially concerning that this sort of cavalier use of public funds has occurred under the leadership of Rep. Greg Hughes who should be expected to have a special interest in protecting Utah’s taxpayers as UTA’s board chair and as a sitting legislator. Rep. Hughes is in the unenviable position of supporting the findings of the report, ordered by his legislative colleagues and thereby condemning his own leadership, or dismissing it and taking sides with the management team that he has been charged, as chairman, with overseeing. Any Utahn would be quick to see this as a clear conflict of interest. Whether or not the Independent Legislative Ethics Commission agrees remains to be seen.”
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Contact:
Isaac Holyoak
Communications Director, Alliance for a Better UTAH
801.664.9751 | isaac@betterutah.org
