Most Utahns know the children’s story. You give a mouse a cookie. Then he wants a glass of milk. Then a straw. Then a napkin. Then a mirror. Then a haircut. Before long, one simple act of generosity turns into a full day of demands.
That story is funny because every parent knows it is true. One small yes can lead to another, and another, until the original favor has grown into something nobody intended.
Utah has its own version of that story. It is called MIDA.
The Military Installation Development Authority was created for a reasonable purpose. Utah wanted to protect and strengthen its military installations, support economic development connected to those installations, and help coordinate complicated projects that crossed normal city and county boundaries. That purpose made sense. The original concern was real. Military readiness matters. Hill Air Force Base matters. The Utah National Guard matters. The men and women who serve this country matter.
But good intentions do not erase the need for guardrails.
MIDA did not remain a small, narrow tool for a narrow job. Over time, the Legislature kept handing it more cookies. More powers. More project areas. More taxing tools. More bonding authority. More legal exceptions. More control over land use. More ability to create sub-entities. More ability to move revenue and structure development outside normal local government channels.
Today, MIDA is not just a development helper. It is an independent, nonprofit, separate body corporate and politic. It has perpetual succession and statewide jurisdiction. It is treated as a political subdivision of the state, a public corporation, and a public entity.
That is not a conspiracy theory. That is not a pitchfork argument. That is the statute.
MIDA can exercise exclusive police power inside a project area as if it were a municipality. It can collect regulatory fees. It can enter agreements for municipal services. It can develop land, operate facilities, acquire property, sell property, lease property, enter development agreements, and issue bonds to fund its development goals.
MIDA and land inside its project areas are not subject to ordinary municipal or county land use laws. They are not subject to county or municipal ordinances and regulations, including land use, health, business license, and franchise ordinances.
Read that again.
An entity created by the Legislature can enter a local area, exercise powers similar to a municipality, and operate outside many of the local rules that cities, counties, businesses, and residents normally live under.
That is not normal local government. That is extraordinary power.
MIDA also has unusual financial flexibility. It may use property tax allocation and other funds for broad purposes authorized under its chapter, including administrative costs, operating expenses, development, infrastructure, bonds, military or veteran programs tied to project areas, and promotion of developments or related amenities. Its energy tax revenue does not have to be used in the project area where it was generated, and the board’s decision that outside infrastructure benefits a project area is final.
That means revenue generated in one place may, under certain conditions, be used elsewhere. Again, this may be legal. But legal is not the same as wise. Legal is not the same as transparent. Legal is not the same as accountable.
Then there are the sub-entities. MIDA can create Public Infrastructure Districts, or PIDs. These districts can levy property taxes for operations and maintenance, issue bonds secured by property taxes, create tax areas inside districts, and apply different tax rates to those areas.
The organizational chart is no longer simple. MIDA now includes multiple project areas, development review committees, MIDA-created PIDs, P3+, the State Infrastructure Bank, and a MIDA Loan Approval Committee loan approval board.
That last part should stop every Utahn in their tracks. When an entity has access to public financing tools and also sits inside the structure that approves its own loans, the public deserves more than “trust us.”
The meeting record also shows why this matters. A review of 527 meeting-related entries from 2008 through May 2026 found that only 306 appeared to be actual meetings likely held. Nearly 30 percent were cancellations, postponements, or no-meeting notices, and another 12 percent were administrative notices only. Of the 527 entries, 219 had no associated files available, and even after accounting for cancellations, 156 non-cancelled entries still lacked associated files.
That does not mean wrongdoing occurred. It does mean the public record is fragmented, complicated, and difficult for ordinary citizens to follow. When an entity has ordinary powers, ordinary transparency may be enough. When an entity has extraordinary powers, ordinary transparency is not enough.
And the cookies keep coming.
In 2026, legislation identified MIDA as a regional economic development authority for regionally significant development zones. Another 2026 bill listed MIDA as a public entity that may borrow from the Energy Development Infrastructure Fund. Another labeled MIDA as a state land use authority for critical minerals zones, allowing MIDA to propose and create critical minerals zones within its jurisdiction.
MIDA has also moved into the Stratos Project Area in Box Elder County, described as a large-scale energy and technology infrastructure initiative across approximately 40,000 acres to support energy resilience, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, secure data systems, and mission-critical national defense operations.
This is no longer just about one military development tool created in 2007. This is about a powerful public authority with statewide reach, municipal-type powers, tax tools, bonding tools, land use authority, development authority, sub-entities, and growing involvement in some of the largest economic development projects in Utah.
There is no need to demonize anyone. There is no need to make this personal. And despite the fact that MIDA’s leader is named Stuart, this is not a story about him.
It is much simpler than that.
The Legislature created a mouse to solve a specific problem. Then year after year, it gave the mouse another cookie. Then another. Then another. Now the mouse is not asking for milk. It is asking for municipal power, tax revenue, land use control, bonding authority, project expansion, and the ability to operate through a growing web of related entities.
Utahns should not be angry. They should be awake.
The next legislative session should include serious controls on MIDA. Lawmakers should consider whether the MIDA board should be sunsetted or fundamentally restructured now that the original mission has been completed or dramatically changed. At a minimum, the Legislature should place clear limits on project expansion, revenue use, sub-entity creation, loan approval, land use authority, and exceptions from local ordinances.
But that cannot wait for the next session alone.
The Utah State Auditor should immediately perform a complete audit of MIDA, its project areas, its PIDs, its loan structures, its use of revenue, its compliance with public notice requirements, and the practical effect of its powers on local governments and taxpayers.
This is not anti-military. It is pro-accountability.
This is not anti-development. It is pro-guardrails.
This is not left, right, or center. It is basic self-government.
Because in Utah, no public entity should be so powerful that the people cannot understand it, local governments cannot check it, and taxpayers cannot clearly see where the money goes.
And if you give a government authority that much power without enough oversight, do not be surprised when it asks for another cookie.