Utah’s local government and educational institutions doled out more than $2 million in taxpayer dollars in 2010 to hire lobbyists to represent them in the nation’s capital, a growing trend a watchdog group condemns.

Park City, with a population of 7,558, was ranked seventh highest in the nation in per capita lobbyist expenditures. According to the Center for Responsive Politics’ analysis, Park City’s residents paid $14.55 each for representation in Washington. By comparison, Salt Lake City residents paid about 62 cents per person for D.C. lobbying.

Utah State University and the Utah Transit Authority were Utah’s biggest spenders on Washington lobbying last year, with each spending more than $400,000 last year.

Watchdog groups are concerned about the rise of local governments’ involvement in Washington lobbying. In a time when local governments are trying to balance budgets, some see the expenditures as wasteful, but for others it is a gamble worth taking, according to Dave Levinthal, editor of the center’s website, Opensecrets.org.

This kind of watchdogging is possible because of strong federal open-government laws that require lobbyists to report specific contracts with clients and link them to money spent, agencies’ bills, issues and lawmakers.

Twenty-seven Utah counties, cities, towns and state colleges hired lobbyists in 2010, including seven cities in both Salt Lake and Utah counties. Along with the larger Salt Lake, Provo, Orem, and West Valley, the list included smaller towns of Clearfield, Eagle Mountain, Lehi, Herriman, Highland and Santaquin.

“The secret is state and local governments are the biggest bunch of moochers on the planet,” said Leslie Paige, vice president for policy and communications for Citizens Against Government Waste, Washington-based taxpayer watchdog group. “They are addicted to pork.”

Across the nation, local governments spent $27.7 million on lobbying in 1998, a total that has almost tripled over the past 12 years to 2010’s $77.4 million total. The 2010 number is down after an $83 million lobbying binge in 2009 to secure Obama administration stimulus money, the center reported.

She contends it has not been big labor or health care that have bloated federal budgets, but a growing “sense of entitlement” local governments have for federal dollars.

Michael Kovacs, Park City assistant city manager, said the lobbying expenditures in his city help support a much bigger population than the census count shows.

“It is high for cities our size, but Park City, with the amount of vacation visitors and influx of tourists and seasonal guests, we really operate like a 30,000 – 50,000 population city,” Kovacs said, noting that Park City lobbying focuses on programs such as transit and water rather than politics.

Park City spent only $5,000 less than the University of Utah and Salt Lake City on lobbyists. Ben McAdams, Salt Lake City’s director of federal relations, said he believes the city’s $115,000 yearly bill in Washington is appropriate, particularly because Salt Lake City has an international airport and a large mass transit system. Lobbying has helped bring federal projects to Salt Lake City, including a $26 million Sugar House streetcar, something Paige said is “poster child of pork barrel politics.”

McAdams, who is also a state senator, says he believes the use of tax dollars for local governments to lobby both state and federal agencies and lawmakers is warranted.

As for Utah’s biggest spenders on federal lobbying, Neil Abercrombie, USU’s director of government relations, said it is common for land grant universities – which have links to many federal programs -- to have Washington lobbyists. Unlike USU, many land grant universities have offices and full-time staff in Washington. Abercrombie said that USU’s contract lobbyist is critical in watching budgets that support university programs as well as watching policy changes and myriad federal agencies. The lobbyist has also been critical in building research links and funding for the university’s Space Dynamics Lab. He noted USU’s lobbyist is not paid directly with taxpayer money, but comes from a university special fund.

A Utah Transit Authority spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Joel Campbell is a former reporter and current associate professor of communications at Brigham Young University. His reporting does not necessarily reflect the views of BYU. He writes on First Amendment and open-government issues for The Tribune. He can be reached at foiguy@gmail.com.