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35 |
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SLOC repays the state $59 million
Lawmakers get free tickets to finale after all
By Jerry D. Spangler and Bob Bernick Jr.
Deseret News staff writers
Amid fanfare and resolutions of praise from state lawmakers, Salt Lake Organizing Committee fulfilled its most ballyhooed promise Tuesday when SLOC President Mitt Romney repaid the state $59 million in diverted sales tax revenue and another $40 million in "legacy" funds to help operate Games venues for decades to come.
"We met our full obligations, no ifs, ands or buts about it," Romney told the Deseret News before appearing at the Legislature. "When I said we did it (turned a profit), I wasn't kidding. The Utah taxpayer paid zero dollars" to host the Games.
The $59 million was siphoned from Utah's sales tax to build a speed skating oval in Kearns and the Utah Olympic Park, the Park City venue for ski jumping, bobsled, luge and skeleton.
But while SLOC and Gov. Mike Leavitt were basking in promises met, SLOC reversed course over the weekend by providing scores of free closing ceremony tickets to state lawmakers and their spouses.
Last month, SLOC's government relations director Bill Shaw said the committee would not give free tickets to legislators. Distributing free tickets would bring the committee under sharp criticism, Shaw said at the time.
Romney "has taken the high road on everything we do," Shaw said.
SLOC chief financial officer Fraser Bullock said lawmakers were given 100 tickets out of 7,900 tickets that had gone unsold as of Saturday.
Apparently, not all tickets earmarked for lawmakers were used.
"We gave the tickets because they helped bring the Games here to Utah, they gave us their support and we wanted to show them our appreciation," said Bullock, when asked why SLOC had reneged on its earlier commitment not to ply elected officials with free tickets.
The price of the tickets, had they sold, would have been $320 each, said SLOC spokeswoman Caroline Shaw, or about $32,000 worth if lawmakers had used all the tickets.
But Shaw maintained the tickets were unsold inventory and therefore had no face value.
"Rather than have those seats go empty, we gave them to people," she said. Others who received free tickets included SLOC volunteers and staff, venue chairmen and law enforcement officers assisting with Games security.
Senate President Al Mansell, R-Sandy, said he saw no problem with the free tickets despite the fact SLOC and the Legislature have for years been involved in sometimes tense negotiations regarding state financial assistance for the Games.
"The Senate was called last-minute on Saturday about the opportunity to attend closing ceremonies, and because the tickets were unsold and would have gone unused, senators were contacted to see if they were interested in attending," Mansell said.
State law does not require any of the lawmakers to disclose the gift from SLOC, nor does SLOC have to report the gifts because it currently has no registered lobbyists.
SLOC had four lobbyists last year registered with the state. But SLOC main lobbyist Bill Shaw (no relation to Caroline Shaw) removed his and the others' names late last year, saying SLOC would not be lobbying lawmakers during the 2002 Legislature and would not be providing free tickets to legislators or top state administrators.
Ironically, Tuesday morning a House committee passed House Minority Leader Ralph Becker's bill to ban gifts to lawmakers. Becker, D-Salt Lake, wants to ban all gifts except those of minimal value — like a soft drink or a pen.
Clearly, expensive Olympic tickets could not have been given under Becker's bill. But ultimate passage is unsure; the bill now goes back to the Rules Committee, which had previously refused to let it be heard. If passed by the House, it still faces a Senate that has refused to act on so-called government reform issues.
Rep. Chad Bennion, R-Murray, wants to change Becker's bill to require "total gift disclosure" but not ban gifts. Bennion wants to require both registered lobbyists and lawmakers to file reports detailing what gifts are given and accepted. If Becker's bill gets to the House floor he will offer his substitute, Bennion said Tuesday morning.
Bennion, who accepted tickets to the closing ceremony from SLOC, didn't realize that there would be no accounting because SLOC had no registered lobbyists.
"My change means disclose everything, make legislators do it, too," said Bennion. "That gets away from this ticky-tacky argument of who gives it to you, what is the 'real' value," he said.
In other words, if legislators had to disclose the value of the gift as well, then it wouldn't matter who gave the gift — registered lobbyists or not — there would be an accounting.
Free tickets notwithstanding, lawmakers are happy taxpayers got their money back Tuesday, giving Romney, Bullock and Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt repeated standing ovations and passing SCR3, a resolution singing the praises of SLOC, Games volunteers and others.
Leavitt reminded lawmakers that many were skeptical when the state first agreed to "loan" sales tax revenues to build Games facilities.
"We are here to celebrate the keeping of that commitment (that taxpayers would be repaid)," he said. "We were true to ourselves in that commitment."
Romney used the joint session of the Legislature to heap praise on everyone involved in the Games, in particular the 24,500 volunteers.
"Without them, we would not have broken even," he said. "Without them, the Games would not have had the heart and passion."
Romney also revealed that SLOC, in efforts to balance the books over the past couple years, had received more than $50 million in donations from individuals, and more than $100 million from Utah companies.
When all was said and done, Utah now has $40 million to help pay long-term operating costs at the Olympic speed skating oval in Kearns and the sled runs and ski jumps at Olympic Park.
Romney will hand over keys to the Olympic park and oval and $40 million to Randy Dryer, chairman of the Utah Athletic Foundation. The foundation isn't supposed to touch the endowment, taking only the interest it earns, probably about $2 million a year.
That won't be enough to operate the venues, so Dryer hired Mark Lewis, the chief marketer for SLOC, to drum up corporate sponsorships and donations.
Cathy Priestner Allinger, the committee's managing director of sports, was hired to draw sporting competitions to the venues. Only the top international events are expected to make money for the foundation.
It hopes to attract foreign athletes by teaming up with Lake Placid and Calgary, Alberta, to offer a three-stop circuit for luge, bobsled and ski jump competitions.
Dryer, who wants to build the venue's endowment to $60 million, could get another Olympic boost if the Games clear a profit. Romney says it will take 90 days for organizers to balance the books and calculate what the Games earned.
The Utah Athletic Foundation, overseen by the state, will get 65 percent of any Games' profit, with the rest split by the U.S. and international Olympic committees.
Contributing: The Associated Press
E-MAIL: spang@desnews.com; bbjr@desnew.com
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February 26, 2002
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