With cleanup done, Corroon focusing on his initiatives

After spending nearly two years cleaning up the mess other elected officials left, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon is turning his focus to promoting the initiatives that matter most to him, and his proposed budget Tuesday reflected that.

The mayor's 2007 budget for $805 million includes no new tax increases but proposes funding for projects Corroon has wanted to do all along: programs to protect the environment and help small businesses and low-income families.

Seeing those initiatives was a pleasant surprise to Councilwoman Jenny Wilson.

"For the first time, we can really see his fingerprint on the budget," Wilson said. "You're really starting to see the Corroon priorities emerge."

Corroon deflected the attention, instead saying the budget reflects the priorities of county residents as well as his staff. "Most good ideas involve many people."

The mayor managed to slash the budget by $6 million from last year, all the while proposing several new initiatives.

The proposed budget includes $250,000 for the county's small-business loan fund, as well as $20,000 to help build a business technology park in the county.

Corroon also asked for $400,000 to start a child immunization program in the county. The money would pay to immunize 11,000 low-income children under the age of 2 in the county health system. The budget asks for increased staffing levels at the county's after-school program in Kearns.

The green-friendly mayor wants to expand the county's recycling program, and asked for $4.5 million to make the voluntary program a required initiative countywide. The money would be used to place a blue recycling bin on the curb of every home in unincorporated county areas and their contract cities: Herriman, Bluffdale, Taylorsville, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Riverton and part of Murray.

People in those areas who are voluntarily using the recycling program now would save $0.75 per month in the new program, and new customers would see a $2 per month increase on their garbage bill.

The budget also includes money to continue Corroon's efforts to clean up county government. He asked for an associate director for the Administrative Services Department, a division Corroon recently created to provide oversight of several county divisions, such as fleet and personnel. Both divisions have been plagued with scandal over the past few years.