Salt Lake County has budget accord

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon put his veto pen back in the desk drawer Thursday.

The Democratic mayor reached a compromise with the Republicans on the council to cut $175,000 from the Republican district attorney's budget. Corroon had threatened to veto for the first time in his three years in office if the Republican-dominated council didn't cut at least three or four positions from District Attorney Lohra Miller's budget.

"Not everyone got what they wanted, but in the end we're heading in the right direction and sending the message that we're going to be fiscally responsible but at the same time keep public safety and victims' rights at the forefront," Corroon said. "I'm glad we all came together at the end of the day."

Both sides were at odds since Corroon said the council went too far by adding $1.37 million to the district attorney's budget, which would have funded 16 new full-time employees, including four new prosecutors. Miller says her office is overworked and is in desperate need of more staff.

Corroon said the district attorney's budget increase, coupled

with stormy financial forecasts for the upcoming year and other future funding requests, would have put the county at financial odds in 2009 and require a tax increase. Without a cut to Miller's budget, Corroon said he was prepared to use a line-item veto.

Republicans on the council balked, saying Corroon doesn't care about public safety. (However, the GOP-dominated council voted 5-4 against a proposal to budget $600,000 to prepare Oxbow Jail to be opened again in the near future.) Corroon said he was just looking after the taxpayers.

Council Chairman Mark Crockett said Corroon chose the wrong battle to fight: If county leaders could agree on an $811 million budget, why all the fuss over a couple of hundred thousand dollars?

"It's a tempest in a teapot," Crockett said. "I couldn't think of a more trivial amount of money to test a veto, so I guess it would have been a nice test case."

Corroon said every penny is important.

"Every little bit counts," Corroon said. "It's a sad day in Salt Lake County if we don't consider $300,000 important. We should be looking at every last dollar and making sure it's well spent."

The mayor and the Democrats on the council tried to avoid the veto battle.

Hours before the council was set to vote on the final 2008 budget, Corroon offered a last-minute compromise — one that the district attorney agreed to — that would have cut the total increase to about $1 million. The compromise slashed a domestic violence warrant officer, a community prosecution coordinator, a paralegal and a secretary.