BOISE, Idaho -- A legislative audit published this week found that Idaho State University failed to properly use the money it was allocated several years ago. Nearly a million dollars in public funds were approved for a Forensic Pathology Center at ISU in 2022 -- a project they were trying to complete with Bannock County.
That project never happened, but there was still a payment made by Idaho State to Bannock County. That lack of return on investment got the attention of lawmakers, which raised questions of oversight and misuse of money.
A 2022 green light from the legislature cleared the way for a major partnership. A November 2022 press release announced that Idaho State University and Bannock County signed an agreement to fund and build the East Idaho Forensic Pathology Center on the Pocatello campus.
The facility was designed as a dual function partnership -- a much-needed facility for autopsies serving 17 counties as well as a training and research opportunity for ISU students.
The original announcement outlined $900,000 in state funding combined with $2 million in ARPA federal grant money to pay for the project.
A note in the 2022 legislative funding, House Bill 776, stated that "any unspent funds at the end of the appropriation period were to be returned to the State of Idaho General Fund." That date was June 30, 2023.
To ensure the money wouldn't be returned, an Idaho State staffer wrote, "We think the cleanest path forward is for the county to invoice us for the $900K." The logic appeared to be that money would be protected from return as research and development on the project continued.
ISU received an invoice from Bannock County on April 17, 2023, for $853,700 -- the remaining balance of the $900,000 minus funds already spent on the project. It was paid on April 20th.
That invoice simply listed the payment as "forensic pathology project" with no supporting documentation of actual expenses incurred, something required under the funding legislation.
In August 2023, emails cited in the audit show ISU staff were notified that Bannock County had decided they were not moving forward with the project, opting to instead build a facility on county-owned land, rather than the University campus.
Some ISU staff raised concerns about the money, and if it needed to be returned to ISU from the county.
In November of 2024, The Idaho Freedom Foundation published a piece questioning the financial transaction. The same day Senator Glenneda Zuiderveld published a call to action on her Substack.
The legislative audit found "no evidence that ISU attempted to obtain additional documentation to support the expenditure or to recover the funds until after the media and Legislature began asking questions. ISU did ultimately recover the funds from Bannock County in two separate checks: the first for $684,817.68 dated December 19, 2024, and the second for $168,882.32 dated January 9, 2025, which were remitted to the Idaho State Treasurer."
Weeks later, new ISU President Dr. Robert Wagner acknowledged to lawmakers on the budgeting committee the actions that happened under his predecessor.
"One of the areas that I have identified that Idaho State University must do better at is number one, recognize that legislative intent is law," Wagner told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.
Dr. Wagner explained this got on his radar in the fall of 2024, and he immediately moved to take action.
"It's incredibly important for us as an institution when those funds come to us that we take full and complete responsibility. We also need to track those funds. We need to follow and make sure that the funds are being used appropriately," Wagner said.
"We've been open and transparent and working with the auditors, and so we expected the audit to be released," said Ryan Sargent, Associate Vice President of Government and Community Relations at Idaho State.
"The money was returned to the state as quickly as possible. And that's not to mitigate any of the issues or the responsibility that we have to follow the legislative intent, which is the law. But as soon as President Wagner became aware of it, this was pretty quickly solved as best as the university could," Sargent explained.
The University is fully acknowledging the fairly criticized actions.
"Were some mistakes made and not following legislative intent and having the pathology lab built on Idaho State's campus? Yes. And we readily admit to those mistakes. But the self-correction and the fact that all of the money was returned to the state, I think, speaks volumes to how seriously Idaho State took this issue," Sargent said.
As President Wagner told lawmakers in January, new practices are already in place at Idaho State to prevent something like this in the future.
"We have created internal processes that include our CFO, as well as our legal counsel and government relations to really monitor every single dollar that's allocated to Idaho State and make sure that is spent in the way that taxpayers expect and to provide the services that the legislature wants through their investments," Wagner said.