The winners and the losers

 Loser: In these economic conditions, taxpayers shouldn't be burdened with higher taxes. Nevertheless, the Salt Lake County Council on Thursday voted 5-4 to raise property taxes the equivalent of $10 annually to a home valued at $250,000. Otherwise, according to council members who voted for the increase, the county could face program cuts one county council member terms "Draconian." We say give spendthrift Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, who opposed the tax hike, a turn at the budget scalpel. Corroon should veto the increase and send the council back to work on other budget-paring options.

 Winner: Kudos to Salt Lake Community College for ranking fourth among the nation's associate-degree granting institutions by the publication Community College Week. SLCC is outperforming its peers in terms of head count, student retention, student persistence and efficient use of public funding. Considering the top three schools were mega colleges on the East Coast, this was quite a feather in the cap for the Salt Lake-based institution.

 Loser: Unless legislators also want to appropriate more funding for drug courts and substance-abuse treatment, they should shelve a proposal to drug test Utahns on state and federal assistance programs. Where has it been demonstrated that this population abuses narcotics at a higher rate than the general population? Moreover, most recipients are single mothers who receive $498 a month. Is it prudent to cut off assistance to children because their parent has a substance abuse issue?

 Winner: Utah Transit Authority has reconsidered a proposed rate hike for paratransit service. Instead, UTA is working on a plan to use state and federal funds so that fee hikes for paratransit are not higher or more frequent than regular fare increases. The transit authority is also exploring a statewide central dispatch center for transportation of people with disabilities and expanding service to people in Salt Lake, Utah and Weber counties. These are very important developments for people with disabilities who rely on public transportation to stay connected to their communities, families, places of employment, churches and health-care providers, and typically have very low incomes.