A deal for more police?

Nearly everyone in Salt Lake City government agrees the city needs more police officers, but they have disagreed on how to pay for those officers.

Mayor Rocky Anderson proposed a $1.4 million property-tax increase to hire officers the police department says it desperately needs to curtail speeding, property crimes and thefts. But the City Council did not want to raise property taxes for residents, who already pay some of the highest city taxes in Utah.

Now, a compromise tentatively has been reached through a straw poll of City Council members — trim the overall city budget to make room for between seven and 10 additional officers.

Detective Dwayne Baird, spokesman for the police department, said the department has been stretched thin by years of tight budgets and staff attrition. The proposed staff increase would put Salt Lake City closer to the national average ratio of officers to citizens but still would fall short of the department's ideal of 17-20 additional officers.

But City Council members are pleased they can fill a need without having to tell neighbors their taxes are increasing.

"It's not that I don't believe in raising taxes," said Nancy Saxton , a council member who represents downtown. "But I believe that as we demand and require more services, the public must understand that that money must come from someplace — either we cut services or raise taxes."

In this case, the City Council likely will make small cuts in a variety of departments, starting with its own. A 2 percent cut to the City Council consultant, travel and auditing budgets would provide some of the money needed to hire the officers. The council also decided against adding a position for economic development in the mayor's office to save more cash.

Additional officers will not decrease anyone's workload in the police department, however, Baird said.

"There seems to be no shortage of police work in this city," he said.

The proposed increase in officers is only tentative because the council is waiting for final revenue numbers from Salt Lake County. It will tweak the budget as needed after it receives that information.

"The council is convinced and committed to any additional monies, that we can either save or that we have because of increases in sales tax, that we will put more police officers there so we have more on the beat, on the street," Saxton said.

The officers will help in departments with higher crime, particularly drug suppression, investigations and street patrols, Baird said.

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com