Audit: Utah’s economic development office could not consistently show how nearly $249 million in awards was used

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development could not consistently show how award recipients used nearly $249 million in fiscal years 2023 through 2025, or whether the money achieved what it was meant to, according to a legislative audit released Sept. 15. ^[1]

The total combines $164 million in legislative pass-through grants the office administered from 2023 through 2025 and nearly $85 million awarded through the Industrial Assistance Account in the same years. The audit does not report that amount as lost or misspent. ^[1]

Pass-through grants

The office administered 21 pass-through grants totaling $39 million in fiscal 2025. It did not document a budget for 19% of those awardees before paying them, and so disbursed $3.8 million “without specific knowledge of what the money was to be spent on,” the audit says. A 2024 state law requires a budget before grant money is paid. ^[1]

Auditors also found that the office made final payments to two entities without a final report on file, that half of the final reports provided had no list of how the money was spent, and that most fiscal 2025 grantees had no current accounting report in the State Auditor’s database. ^[1]

The audit says it did not find new instances of misspending. It cites a separate 2025 State Auditor finding that $1.8 million to $2.8 million was misused in the Manufacturing Extension Partnership pass-through to iMpact Utah; the state is pursuing litigation to recover those funds. ^[1]

Industrial Assistance Account

In January 2024 the office’s board approved a $2 million grant to Utah Beef Producers for a meat processing facility, and the office paid the full amount upfront. The business closed less than 20 months later. By the end of the audit the office had recovered about 11% of the award, leaving nearly $1.8 million unrecovered, though the state keeps an interest in some infrastructure and fixed assets the grant paid for. ^[1]

The office also ended a $3.2 million contract with the Salt Lake Chamber Foundation over contract timing concerns, the audit says. ^[1]

A second chapter says the office runs more than 40 programs and does not consistently measure their long-term outcomes. ^[1]

The office’s response

The audit credits steps taken since a new executive director was appointed in May 2025, including hiring a chief compliance officer. ^[1]

In an Aug. 21 letter, Commissioner Jefferson Moss accepted all of the audit’s recommendations. The office’s response plan lists Aug. 31, 2027 as the completion date for recommendations 1.1 through 2.2. Those are the office’s own targets. ^[1]