This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A judge Wednesday refused to require Arizona to help Utah pay off more than $5.5 million owed for management of a polygamous sect's property trust.
Since about half of the property once controlled by Warren Jeffs is located in Arizona, the Utah Attorney General's Office argued that state should be included in Judge Denise Lindberg's order to use taxpayer funds to pay the accountant appointed to run the trust following a state takeover.
But Lindberg ruled Wednesday that Utah had waited too long to make the contribution request.
"It would not be fair to the state of Arizona to reconsider, at this late date, the issue of liability for the special fiduciary's fees and expenses," she wrote.
Lindberg decided in August that Utah should pay trust administrator Bruce Wisan some four years of accumulated debts, until ongoing litigation is settled and he's able to sell property from the approximately $114 million trust. Among other objections, the Utah Attorney General's Office filed a motion in January saying Arizona, which supported the 2005 takeover, should also share the cost. The trust holds nearly all the land, homes and businesses in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.
Lindberg denied Utah's appeals in a ruling issued last week and set a 90-day deadline for the state to pay. The attorney general's office has not yet appealed that order.
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