When bankrupt Delta Air Lines recently asked pilots to approve pay cuts, it led to strike threats and bitter struggles. Eventually, pilots reluctantly approved the cuts, after Delta officials said the airline otherwise might go out of business.

Delta had a much easier time obtaining what amounts to a $3.9 million loan from Salt Lake County taxpayers. Approval was automatic. No application was needed. No payments will be required for years. It eventually will cost Delta just a 2 percent initial fee, plus relatively low 10.25 percent annual interest.

How did that happen?

Delta simply did not pay its property tax on time for its facilities at Salt Lake City International Airport.

Delta is one of some 3,600 businesses in Salt Lake, Utah and Davis counties that may have discovered (and used) this trick. Not paying property tax can amount to a cheap "loan" to help ends meet, especially in Utah, where penalties and interest are low. Businesses in the three counties dragged their heels, paying at least $30 million in taxes after their deadlines.

Salt Lake County Treasurer Larry W. Richardson says such "borrowing" is convenient for the businesses, because "there are no applications, no (upfront) fees and no waiting."

The situation is made clearer by computer-assisted analysis by the Deseret Morning News of government records for nearly 30,000 individuals and businesses that failed to pay property taxes by the Nov. 30 deadline.

Delta is the biggest property tax debtor in the three counties. By itself the airline accounts for $1 of every $20 in tax not paid on time or owed from previous years.

Several other airlines are among tax debtors. Records show that as of Dec. 21, also-bankrupt Northwest Airlines owed $250,000; American Airlines owed $60,000; Win Air, $481,239; Sunrise Airlines, $73,296; Majestic Airlines, 57,835; defunct PanAm, $15,138; Trans Meridian Airlines, $8,827; and Allegro Airlines, $5,744.

Of course, not paying property tax on time comes with risks. If Utah taxes, penalties and interest are not paid after five years, counties may seize and auction the property of delinquent companies to collect amounts due. And tax delinquency is considered poor citizenship. It deprives school districts, counties, cities and other government entities of expected revenue.

Still, many businesses take such risks. The Morning News found, for example, in the three counties that:

• At least 1,600 land developers, real estate companies and construction companies owed more than a combined $11 million in property tax. Richardson and others say such businesses often appear not to pay taxes on property that they hope to sell soon, waiting for sales to provide money to pay the taxes, rather than taking it out of pocket.