Regardless of whether you are for or against the Bear River Project and Lake Powell Pipelines – I urge you all to attend, if possible, the Economic Analysis of the Lake Powell Pipeline presented by University of Utah economics Professor Gabriel Lozada today at 12:00 pm in the Moot Courtroom of the S.J. Quinney College of Law.  Every Citizen in Utah needs to be fully aware of how the funding of these projects will affect them (Utah taxpayers).

During yesterday’s Water Commission meeting – a GRAMA request revealed that water districts knowingly hid massive water rate increases from the public, to fund the Lake Powell Pipeline.

A revelatory document obtained via GRAMA and analyzed by a group of PhD University economists reveals the Washington County Water District hid secret water rate increases from the public and legislators.  While hiding the rate increases, the District’s lobbyists (paid for with your property tax dollars) lobbied for funding for the $2-4 billion Lake Powell Pipeline and claimed they could repay the Utah taxpayers.

Over the last year, the District repeatedly told the public and legislators they could repay the massive debt from the pipeline with just a 28-cent increase in water rates, according to media interviews.  But the agency refused to share their repayment plan until the Utah State Records Committee ordered the District to release the plan to Utah Rivers Council.

The University economists analyzed the District’s repayment plan and found the agency intends to repay just 28% of the pipeline costs paid by Utah taxpayers.  This means the District lobbied for pipeline funding by claiming they could repay Utah taxpayers while secretly intending to force Utah taxpayers to pay 72% of the pipeline’s cost, a violation of Utah law.

“No one would ever ask a bank for a loan while intending to repay just 28% of the debt, unless they’re a scam artist” said Zach Frankel, Executive Director for Utah Rivers Council.  “Yet that’s exactly what water lobbyists convinced the Legislature to do.”

In 2015, the same group of University economists prepared a 41 page pro-bono analysis that found the $2-4 billion Lake Powell Pipeline will require a 570% increase in water rates and a 120% increase in impact fees in Washington County to repay Utah taxpayers.

The District hired a consultant, paid $418,000 as of July 2016, to prepare a repayment plan to contest the findings.  The consultant has a law degree and a bachelor’s in hotel administration.

The District’s secret plan was cited by dozens of lobbyists at the 2016 Utah Legislature to pass a bill (SB80) funding the pipeline with $40 million per year in sales tax money.  Yet the Legislature refused to fund the Medicaid gap, which needed about the same amount of money.