Salt Lake on $1,000 a day

OK. This requires further explanation. Why will it cost $100,000 for lawmakers to tour Salt Lake County next week, particularly when, as House Speaker Greg Curtis aptly observes, 40 percent of them reside in Salt Lake County?

If all 104 lawmakers show up for the one-day tour, the cost is just shy of $1,000 a head. Salt Lake County is providing about $25,000 to the effort and West Valley City's use of the E-Center, considered an in-kind contribution, is worth about $7,500. Private donations, as of Aug. 7, total some $58,000.

There's certainly value to lawmakers visiting various developments and state agencies about the county. Stronger relationships need to be forged between the Utah Legislature and Salt Lake County and certainly Salt Lake City. But the price tag for this tour, when compared to the Davis County visit, which is $11,500 for one day, is bewildering. The state will foot the lodging bill for legislators who reside outside Salt Lake County, which would seem to be a significant cost of such outings.

As organizers explained to Deseret Morning News reporters, lawmakers will travel about the county in rented buses. En route to their various stops, they will watch a video that highlights areas of the county that lawmakers will not have time to see on the one-day visit. An argument could be made that this multi-tasking is a good use of lawmakers' time. But the price tag of the video is an eye-popping $25,000. Officials of Exoro, the Salt Lake consulting/lobbying firm organizing the event and makers of the video, said the rest of the money will be spent on meals and communication materials. (Exoro is led by LaVarr Webb, who writes a column for the Deseret Morning News and is a former managing editor of the newspaper.)

The private donations to the trip raise concerns, as well. Lawmakers should demand an independent review of the county, with the Legislature picking up all costs.

Again, relationships between the Utah Legislature and Salt Lake City have been strained during Mayor Rocky Anderson's term in office. There have been difficult discussions between the state and Salt Lake County over the Real Salt Lake stadium. It's a good thing for the respective parties to get to know one another and their respective issues better.

But it would be better to keep the costs down and make the trip an independent review, free from lobbyists' influence.