House budget Chairman Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley City, was startled to see the $100,000 request on the Department of Natural Resources budget for the park that celebrates the Mormons' arrival in the valley.
"We thought there had been some plans in place that they wouldn't need additional funding," Bigelow said to sub-committee Chairman Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corinne. "Obviously there are some questions here."
Bigelow later said the request probably was appropriate, but he wanted more detail.
This Is The Place State Park, which is operated at the mouth of Emigration Canyon by a private foundation, was on the verge of financial collapse after its 2005 season.
The foundation, which took control in 1998, had convinced wealthy donors to build more than 35 pioneer-period buildings, but neglected to set aside money to maintain them.
The park's attendance has never matched expectations.
The state, which owns the park, found itself in a corner.
The DNR did not want to take over what had become a 450-acre money pit. But any hope of the foundation surviving would require a massive infusion of taxpayer money.
The state already pumps a yearly $700,000 into the park. It also has gotten hundreds of thousands in county Zoo, Arts & Parks (ZAP) funds.
The foundation successfully took its plea directly to leaders last year, bypassing the usual committee process. But the $2 million cash infusion came with strings. GOP leaders, including Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., demanded the foundation be reorganized and home developer Ellis Ivory put in charge.
Ivory has spent the 2006 season stabilizing the park's finances. He also is pushing a controversial plan for the park's long-term stability that includes commercially developing a dozen acres of the park as an office building.
In the meantime, Ivory wants the park's $700,000 annual subsidy boosted to $800,000.
"I hope everything is OK with that," he said in an interview. "The committee said it was happy with the progress we've made."
Ivory argues that up until recently, the park's annual appropriation was $800,000, but was trimmed during the economic downturn early this decade.
