Working to save jobs in an economy that continues to create budget challenges, the Salt Lake County Council approved a proposal from Mayor Peter Corroon Tuesday to enact a 2.75 percent across-the-board wage cut next year.

The proposal, which could be modified during the upcoming budget process, nets about $4.7 million in savings and protects scores of county employees from getting pink slips.

"The proposal I'm making to the council today is designed to save more than 70 jobs," Corroon said. "The plan includes the kind of action necessary to prevent further personnel cuts."

Council Chairman Joe Hatch lobbied for an alternative to the mayor's plan, suggesting that mandated furlough days could net the same savings without sending the message to employees that wages were being permanently slashed. Instead, the council voted 5-3 to make the cut, with the caveat that wages would be restored as soon as revenues justified it. The council also axed a consolation prize Corroon had included in his proposal — 40 hours of additional vacation pay for 2010.

The wage cuts come on top of tentative approval to zero out merit and cost-of-living increases for county employees next year, as well as continued suspension of a 3 percent contribution to the 401(k) program.

In addition, a new incentive program will offer enticements for early retirement, with the intent of continuing to downsize the county workforce. Nearly 200 positions have been eliminated in the past year via attrition in the midst of an ongoing hiring freeze.

All those efforts, however, including the proposed wage reductions, still leave county coffers an estimated $12 million short of a balanced budget next year.

Doug Willmore, Corroon's chief administrative officer, said the wage cuts aren't a substitute for budget trimming elsewhere, but one necessary aspect of a bigger effort to find savings.

"This is in addition to people's best efforts at finding cheaper ways to provide the same services," he said. "Even with the pay cut, there's still a gap."

Finding the money to fill that gap will be the near-term task of the council, which has tasked independently elected county officials like the county sheriff with finding 7.5 percent in reductions in their budgets for the coming year. The vote tendered Tuesday on employee compensation establishes a part of the basis department heads will use to continue constructing their 2010 budgets and hitting mandated targets.

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com