The latest council decision was precipitated by sales tax collections that have declined to the point that the monies they generate aren't keeping pace with bills paid by those funds. The Salt Lake County auditor's office presented figures Tuesday showing continued slowing of key economic indicators including a projected decline of almost 39 percent in residential construction, a 20 percent drop in business investment in equipment and software, worsening unemployment and wages and an 8 percent decline in taxable sales. The county's chief financial officer, Darrin Casper, told the council that in spite of the current state of decline, the books for 2009 are in the black.

"Even though it's a fairly prolific decline in revenues, all of our funds are balanced," Casper said.

Casper outlined the line items in an additional $5 million in cuts proposed by the mayor and approved by the council Tuesday, that include about $2.2 million in savings in municipal services and about $900,000 in reductions to the library fund. Those efforts come on top of about $17 million in reductions approved in March by the council and an annual budget for 2009 that found $10 million in savings over the previous year. In spite of the series of cuts, and the debt service shift to property tax revenues, Corroon warned that the work is not yet over.

"There are many ways to balance the budget and the question is, what are we willing to do," Corroon said. "It's a balancing act, and we're not done on the balance beam yet."

The council on Tuesday also requested a prioritized list of $15 million in further proposed budget reductions from Corroon's office to be submitted in the next 30 days. One of those items will likely be work furloughs for county employees that would mandate unpaid time off. Each countywide furlough day, which would apply to all operations except law enforcement, would net about $890,000 in savings.

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