Taylorsville studies costs of starting police force

Taylorsville Mayor Janice Auger wants local Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies to trade in their tan shirts for a crisp, new Taylorsville Police Department uniform.

Last week, the City Council granted her wish, voting to ditch its contract with the sheriff's office and create a new city police department.

It's a move that comes after a year of discussion among city officials. Auger said the decision was made mainly because the sheriff's office had been steadily jacking up the price of its contract for 33 deputies to patrol Taylorsville streets.

"We don't have the stability we need," Auger said, pointing out the city's last contract with the sheriff asked for about $120,000 a year for each deputy. "Cities are providing around $90,000 a year" for their own officers, she said.

Auger said she is confident that the city can fund its own police department for $4.6 million a year, which is what its current deputy contract is at.

But it's going to cost Taylorsville $1.1 million in start-up costs to turn those tan shirts to blue.

Earlier this week, Auger met with the council to brainstorm how the city will come up with the $1.1 million needed to buy uniforms, patrol vehicles, weapons, vests and other items.

Auger said among the list of options the city is looking at are federal grants and cutting city spending in other areas to less popular options as raising taxes or installing franchise fees.

One councilman said he feels the mayor and others are moving too fast.

"My differences are not in what we're doing but in how we're doing it," said councilman Bud Catlin, who himself has over 33 years experience in law enforcement. "We're going faster than we need to be."

Catlin said he feels the city needs to figure out how they are going to come up with the $1.1 million before taking out an ad for police chief. Auger said the city has already posted for applications for the new chief.

"I mean we're already talking about patrol vehicles," Catlin said, adding he felt the new chief should be involved with those decisions.

Auger said with its own police, the city will be able to budget better and will be able to hire 50 officers, compared with 33 deputies currently — plus six civilian support staff.