Subject to approval by an assistant Utah attorney general, the Utah Board of Business and Economic Development has adopted a policy on how money in the Special Opportunities Fund should be spent.
The policy was discussed at length during the same meeting when a request for an expenditure from the fund also was discussed.According to the policy statement, the Legislature established the fund to respond to requests for money that couldn't be anticipated when money was appropriated for certain projects.
The fund will be used to further the mission of the division, which is to promote and encourage the economic, commercial, financial, industrial, agricultural and civic welfare of Utah by nurturing and assisting existing Utah companies, creating and developing new enterprise and recruiting business and investment from outside the state.
In determining how the money from the fund will be spent, the board will consider the short- and long-term contributions to the division's mission, balance of types of projects, return or beneficial payback to the state in short and long terms, if there are more appropriate funding sources, if monies from other sources can be used and how the beneficial results will be distributed geographically, the policy said.
Each proposal for money from the fund will be reviewed by the board's Special Opportunities Fund Committee and a recommendation made for approval or denial.
In connection with the fund, the board referred a request from Joe Jenkins, Utah Department of Community and Economic Development executive director, for an area information network that will allow government and private groups to access information about business, to the Special Opportunities Fund Committee.
The board's executive committee favors spending more than $45,000 for the network, which would allow people to access information on economic development, health care, education and many other areas, but some board members felt it should be reviewed by the committee.
For example, Jenkins said a person contemplating going into business could access information about what competitors there may be, what regulations that type of business faces and what suppliers are available. No decision has been made on how much the service will cost.
Board members received a list of projects the fund paid for in the past few months and expressed surprise that Jenkins' request for the information network would deplete the fund and not leave any money for requests between now and June 30, 1994.
Division officials explained, however, that the fund will have an extra $44,301, which left over from an effort to establish an inland port authority. Jenkins said that effort is over and the money could be used to cover other requests to the fund.
The fund has been used by the Legislature to funnel certain money for special projects so the state can keep an eye on how the money is spent. Recently, state officials transferred $1.8 million from the fund to Salt Lake City for construction of Franklin Quest Field.