But more than a year after the Celebration of Life monument opened, the bill on the gift is past due, and the nonprofit that created the monument and was raising funds no longer exists.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and other organ-donation organizations must raise $336,000 by the end of the year. They are optimistic that private donations will come through.

If not, taxpayers will be left covering the tab.

Now, the City Council office is questioning if city policy was followed in building the $636,000 monument.

Normally, money must be in place before it's spent and the council must agree to spend the funds. But in this case, the body didn't approve the expenditure, according to the council, even though the city is legally obligated to pay the bill.

The Mayor's Office didn't inform council members of the possible bill until questioned this week by The Salt Lake Tribune.

"The administration has put the city on the hook for $300,000 without ever getting council approval," said Councilman Dave Buhler, who pointed out that he supports organ donation and intends to be a donor. "To obligate us without prior approval, that's a big concern.

"It doesn't look like it was done correctly. Somebody messed up. Usually when you accept a gift you don't have to pay a huge bill for it."

City Attorney Ed Rutan is involved. He said he is "looking at issues" related to the monument, but declined further comment.

D.J. Baxter, Anderson's senior aide who is working on the project, couldn't say if city policy was violated. But he acknowledged the Mayor's Office should have handled the situation differently.

The city could have waited to build the monument until the donations were in place, he said.

"We're working hard to try and raise the money," he said. "This is not only an important amenity for the community, but is something that will save lives."

The monument is meant to honor living and deceased donors in Utah and encourage others to sign up.

The now-defunct Quest for the Gift of Life Foundation - it helped to create the state's touted online donor registry and to change state law so that donors' wishes are followed - pushed to build the monument.

Founder David Nemelka, a former state lawmaker, said Wednesday the foundation approached the city about possible property, and the Mayor's Office settled on Library Square. The Quest foundation was in charge of raising money. The foundation, the mayor and Baxter have raised $300,000, according to Baxter.

Nemelka said he had "indications" from donors that the full $636,000 would be raised. But the money didn't come in.

"There were foundations, major Utah politicians and businesses and wealthy people who gave indications [of] 'Yeah, I'd be willing to put in up to $25,000.' We never got some of those things. Life changes. The economy changes. Interests change," Nemelka said.

The city decided to go ahead and build the monument anyway.

"We really felt we had the money coming. We felt confident enough about it to go forward," Baxter said. He told the council in an e-mail that going forward may have saved money.

Soon after the monument was finished, the Quest foundation disbanded, Nemelka said, after he fell ill. Some former employees continue to work on monument fund raising. He said the foundation's demise may have dried up donations.

Meantime, Big D Construction, which built the monument, is waiting to be paid. CEO Jack Livingood said the company has agreed not to charge the city interest if the remaining $336,000 is paid by the end of the year.

Big D's contract is with the city library. But library officials say the tab is the city's responsibility.

Anderson - who has personally donated to the monument along with his family members, according to its Web site - and Baxter have been raising funds out of City Hall. A full list of groups from which the city is soliciting wasn't provided Wednesday, but Baxter noted the mayor has approached Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts, Zions Bank, Bank One, Questar and Qwest, among others.

Buhler wants the donors and the amounts to be made public, much like political contributions are.

"Are they donating because they believe in promoting organ donation, or are they giving because they want to influence the city on something?"

Organ-donor supporters hope the monument's message isn't harmed because of the controversy.

"This donor monument has been a real positive thing for the community in educating people about donation," said Joan Arata, chairwoman of Utah's Donate Life Coalition, which is helping to raise funds. "We certainly wouldn't want a bad face on the name of donation because of this."

hmay@sltrib.com

Celebration of Life monument

Each year, new donor names are unveiled at the monument at Library Square, representing donors from the previous year.

This year, about 250 names will be unveiled at a ceremony on Sept. 10 from 11-11:30 a.m. Living donors and donor families are expected to attend.

A gala to raise funds for the monument is planned for November.