S.L. County Council debates budget cuts

An overpowered GOP minority on the Salt Lake County Council was thwarted in multiple attempts Tuesday to pitch deeper cuts to Mayor Peter Corroon's trimmed but tax-inclusive 2010 budget.

While Corroon found some $142 million in reductions over last year's fiscal package, county Republicans say now is not the time to raise taxes — something the mayor is also pitching in a "debt shift" maneuver that would add about $20 a year to the levy on a $260,000 home.

Republican Councilman Max Burdick, whose proposal to cut an additional $3 million from the mayor's portfolio was shot down Tuesday, said there's room to find more savings.

"Right now, the mayor's office, independent elected officials and department heads have done a fantastic job at getting us close," Burdick said. "But we're asking taxpayers to carry us the rest of the way. … I think we can find the money to keep that burden off their shoulders."

Council Republicans endured a final rebuff toward the end of Tuesday's budget meeting when Councilman David Wilde, after hearing a budget presentation by human-services director Jean Nielsen, presented a request for the department to look for an additional $5 million in cuts.

After Councilwoman Jenny Wilson called the idea "the most irresponsible budget-related motion I've heard since I've been here," Corroon told the council that the department has been under siege for several years as state funding for social services has dwindled and that enacting further cuts would only serve to foment new difficulties.

"When we're talking about $5 million, I think it's a budget solution that will create a community problem, which is no solution at all," Corroon said.

Corroon's office supplied figures indicating that a $1 million reduction in the human-services budget would cut off help to 1,993 at-risk youth, seniors, mentally ill people and those in need of substance-abuse services.

Wilde's proposition was defeated in an 8-1 vote.

The council expects to finish with presentations from county agencies next week and move forward with computing next year's budget, but Republicans in the body are not done advocating for cost-shaving.

"We'll keep looking for cuts," Councilman Jeff Allen said. "We may not have seen the worst of the economy yet, and now is the time to make the hard decisions."

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com