Utah County commission approves budget

PROVO — Mansions, luxury vehicles, private jets, small islands — $85.7 million can buy a lot.

But the Utah County Commission won't purchase any of those pricey items with the millions of dollars in the county government's budget.

Instead, the money will pay for rehabilitation center counselors, election clerks and sheriff's deputies, among other expenditures.

The Utah County Commission approved the 2008 budget Tuesday with an $8 million increase over last year's budget and $3 million more than the original proposed budget.

Commission Chairman Steve White said he wanted to cut the budget by an additional $3 million, but $85 million was the lowest it could be cut.

Tuesday's approval was the third attempt by the county commissioners to ratify the budget. The scheduled approvals for Dec. 4 and Dec. 11 had to be put off in order for departments to cut money from their budgets.

White acknowledged that members of certain departments were unhappy with the commission because of the amount of funds the commission forced them to cut.

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E-mail: csmith@desnews.com