Becker seeks to close Salt Lake's budget gap

A slowing economy and rising health-care and fuel costs have created the largest budget gap in Salt Lake City's history, Mayor Ralph Becker said Tuesday.

Department requests for fiscal year 2008-09 in the general fund exceeded city revenues by $23 million, making the budget process more difficult for the first-year mayor.

Becker, who presented his proposed budget to the Salt Lake City Council on Tuesday night, seeks to close much of that gap by trimming 22 full-time jobs from the city's work force and boosting fees for licenses and some city services.

Raising taxes, however, is not an option, he said.

Salt Lake City residents and businesses already will feel the sting of $11 million in property tax increases imposed by the Utah Legislature, Becker said.

Salt Lake City taxpayers were stuck with a $6 million bill to help cover the financial consequences of the Jordan School District split — an action that didn't involve Salt Lake City schools. The other $5 million increase comes from a shift in property taxes from Delta Air Lines to other Salt Lake City taxpayers.

The combined property tax increases will add an estimated $130 per year on a $200,000 home, Becker said.

"That's a very significant hit to our taxpayers," he said. "I didn't want to do anything to add to that burden on our taxpayers."

Becker's proposed general-fund budget is $209 million, an increase of about $7 million from the adopted budget in 2007-08. The overall budget, which includes several separate funds such as capital improvements, the airport, libraries and golf, comes in at just more than $779 million, about $116 more than last year.

The City Council will discuss the mayor's budget for the next several weeks, making changes where it sees fit. By state law, the final budget must be adopted by June 22.

The mayor's proposed reduction in city work force would include 15 layoffs, saving about $1 million. City administrators said there's a strong likelihood that they would be able to find another job with the city.

Six of those positions would be cut from Fire Station No. 5 at 1023 E. 900 South, which Becker is proposing to devote exclusively to emergency medical response. About 80 percent of calls to the station are medical emergencies, he said.

Ceasing fire operations at the station would hurt response times, but they would remain within the five-minute national standard, Becker said. The fire engine and ladder truck currently housed at No. 5 would be moved to other stations.