This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is looking for a way to keep secret from the public millions of dollars in incentives offered to corporations to open or expand operations in Utah.
His economic development advisers have asked the Utah Attorney General's Office whether the state may stop divulging to the public the amount of taxpayer money promised to individual companies in exchange for bringing new jobs to Utah.
The state only wants to be required to disclose the amounts given to companies that end up coming to Utah - long after the state has committed to giving them what could be millions from the state's Industrial Assistance Fund.
"Companies absolutely do not want their deal in the press prior to them making a decision [about] where they are going," said Huntsman's chief economic adviser, Chris Roybal.
Utah already keeps the names of some companies private. If a company asks for confidentiality while seeking IAF funding, the state Board of Business and Economic Development often has complied.
But up until now, the amount of the incentive offered has been public. That financial information, combined with some board discussion, often makes it possible to figure out the names of unnamed companies anyway.
With complete confidentiality, however, the task of finding out which companies are applying for incentives would be nearly impossible to determine, inhibiting public discussion about whether a company should even get any money.
The issue is "still up for review," Roybal stressed, adding "we want to have a process that is fair to companies and fair to the taxpayers of Utah."
Martin Frey, director of the Division of Business and Economic Development, which oversees the board, said he does not see a need to study how other states handle public disclosure of incentives.
At least one of Utah's chief economic rivals - Colorado - fully discloses both the names of companies considering expansion in that state and the amount of money they are promised.
Evan Metcalf, director of the Colorado Economic Development Commission, said he believes there are no disadvantages to early public disclosure.
If a company is worried about confidentiality, he said, Colorado officials may discuss privately whether a company is likely to receive state incentives. But if companies want a guarantee they will get a specific amount of money, the information becomes public.
"The legal advice we have received from the [Colorado] Attorney General's office is that in order to commit public funds, you need to do it openly," he said.
Jerry Oldroyd, a member of the Board of Business and Economic Development, supports public disclosure but said he likes the idea of publicly naming companies and the amounts they receive after, not before, they decide to come to Utah.
Like Roybal, he believes public disclosure too early in the process could kill some economic development deals.
But another board member, Cliff White, favors an early naming of individual companies and the amounts they are promised.
"It's the public business to know the details of what we've awarded to companies," he said. "When you do it in secret, some bad stuff could go on. With public disclosure, you keep everyone honest."