Utah legislator wants to tighten state law after Grand County audit

SALT LAKE CITY — After a state audit blasted Grand County for misusing millions of taxpayer dollars, a state lawmaker now plans to take action.

Rep. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, said what Grand County did was inappropriate, and he wants to tighten things up so it doesn’t happen again.

“I think they skirted the law in a way they shouldn’t have,” said McKell, who chairs the Utah Political Subdivisions Interim Committee.

The state audit released in June found Grand County – home to Moab and Arches National Park – misspent tourism tax dollars for years. State Auditor John Dougall’s office called this “intentional abuse.”

“They were very much aware of what they were doing,” McKell said.

Now, McKell is planning to run a bill during the upcoming legislative session to clarify how the tourism tax can be used – and tighten penalties for counties that don’t comply.

“If a county is going to use this tax,” McKell said, “it needs to be used appropriately.”

Following the audit, Dougall told Grand County to fix things and reimburse roughly $5.3 million that were improperly spent.

In September, Dougall told KSL TV he had “not seen official corrective action yet,” and so his office started withholding taxpayer dollars from Grand County – something state law gives him the power to do.

One month later, those tax revenues are still frozen, Dougall confirmed.

“We are having discussions and we are working through the issues identified in the audit,” Dougall said in a text message. “Grand County has provided additional information that we are reviewing.”

Kevin Walker, Grand County Commission vice chair, echoed that.

“[W]e have supplied new, supplementary information to the State Auditor and we are optimistic that everything will be resolved soon,” Walker said in a statement. “It would not be appropriate to comment publicly on the details while the discussions with the State Auditor’s Office are ongoing.”

No one from Grand County would comment on McKell’s plans for a bill in the aftermath of the audit.

As for McKell, he said he thinks Grand County is taking this issue more seriously now, but he still has concerns about how the tourism tax money was spent.

“In my view, it’s been done inappropriately,” McKell said, “and I think taxpayers need to be aware of that.”