FLDS members taking their time paying back taxes
 
By Brent Hunsaker
ABC 4 News
Colorado City

Bruce Wisan is a man who deals in facts. He has built a profitable accounting career on his ability to handle numbers – and money.

But he is using as much heart and hope as facts and figures in predicting better economic times ahead for the polygamist community of Hildale and Colorado City.

Even so, Wisan is in a position to foresee an improvement. A judge appointed him as Special Fiduciary of the United Effort Plan. (The UEP trust owns just about all the land in the twin polygamist towns of Colorado City and Hilldale – not to mention the polygamist colony in British Columbia, Canada.)

Speaking of the economy of the twin towns along the Utah / Arizona border Wisan said, "I believe they’ve hit bottom."

Though he cannot disclose details, he said he is negotiating with a company to build in the towns. "And this company could bring in other companies."

Wisan doesn’t just see business improving. He says there are people who want to go back – many who were expelled by Warren when he wielded absolute power as the UEP trustee.

If these people as well as the current residents have some measure of security, Wisan believes they will invest in their homes – finish them, expand them and otherwise add to their value.

According to several people who have left the polygamist FLDS religion, Warren Jeffs once said that Colorado City and Hilldale would whither and die, but they point out that Jeffs has been frequently wrong on other predictions. They’re working with Wisan to make sure he’s wrong yet again.

brent@abc4.tv
 
ABC4.com
Originally published June 23, 2006
 
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