Council Mid-Year Budget Review 6/30/09

Yesterday morning (6/30/09), the Salt Lake County Mayor sent out an email to the Salt Lake County employees indicating that some cuts that he was proposing “will require some reductions in compensation and in the services we provide.”

In the County Council meeting yesterday, the Mayor proposed several different items as an alternative to raising taxes in Salt Lake County. Most notably, he proposed a 1% COLA rollback for 2009 and 2010 ($818,000 savings in 2009, and $1,637,000 in 2010). No furlough days were requested by the Mayor. UPEA is in the process of setting up a meeting with the Mayor’s office to clarify the 1% COLA rollback.

In addition, the Mayor suggested that in 2010 the following cuts would take place:
Administrative Services ( 5.3%) –$863,652
Community Services ( 5.7%) –$2,412,211
Human Services (1.4%) –$899,643
Public Works (3.4%) – $363,000
The Mayor also requested that the other elected officials reduce their budgets by 2.5%.

The Mayor, in his proposal, stated that the 2009 budget is balanced and does not need any additional cuts. However, the Council indicated that more of the budget needs to be shaved in 2009 in order to have a sound budget for 2009 and 2010. So, the debate continues. The Council and the Mayor’s office will continue their budget discussions in the Council meetings on 7/14/09 and 7/21/09.