A mean, lean budget OK'd by S.L. County

A relatively flat budget approved by the Salt Lake County Council on Tuesday night will keep tax rates level at the expense of criminal prosecutions, recreation centers and workers hoping for county employment.

The pain of a flat budget — the $735 million budget is only slightly larger than 2003 — is equally spread among all county departments, however, and pet projects are practically nonexistent. Additionally, new county employees will be almost unheard of with the establishment of a so-called "hard" hiring freeze.

Unincorporated residents will receive the biggest new benefit from the budget through a last-minute $75 rebate on sanitation bills. The rebate will amount to almost $6 million in reductions to the solid waste enterprise fund.

Deseret Morning News graphic Salt Lake County budget Requires Adobe Acrobat.

For the most part, the council approved Mayor Nancy Workman's proposed budget, endorsing her no-frills approach. It also stood stoutly by Workman's opposition to a tax increase, likely required for any sort of serious growth in the budget.

Deputy Mayor Alan Dayton said that, from the outset, the mayor's office planned to submit a budget that was consistent with every other budget it has developed. He also applauded the council for adhering to its budget philosophy.

"Salt Lake County citizens are overtaxed and probably underpaid," Dayton said. "We can't pay them more, so her [Workman's] goal was to not tax them more."

Councilman Jim Bradley said while he was not surprised at the council's actions, he was disappointed that council members were seemingly relying on Workman instead of their own prerogative. He also worried that without tax increases or program cuts, the county is on a "collision course" for a budget problem.

"The council, for the third year running, has basically abdicated their responsibility of putting together a budget," he said. "They've let the mayor put it together . . . and essentially rubber-stamped it."

Councilman Cortlund Ashton, while looking forward to having new tools next year that will allow council members to "determine what the priorities are" because of a performance-review program, said he was generally pleased with the "lean, mean and consistent" budget.