Mayor proposes big cuts in 2011 Salt Lake City budget


Save Story
Leer en espaƱol

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Salt Lake City Mayor announced his budget recommendations Tuesday night. It makes cuts in places many may not expect.

The mayor calls this a lean and no-frills budget, one where there's as many million-dollar cuts as thousand-dollar cuts. In the end, it all adds up to close a multi-million dollar gap.

Salt Lake City Budgets 2009-2011

YearBudget% reduction
2009$210 million-
2010$201 million4%
2011$186 million8%
Salt Lake City

"The Salt Lake City budget has decreased by $24 million in two years," Mayor Ralph Becker said.

It was tough love at tonight's city council meeting, with the mayor laying out how to close a massive budget gap.

After residents voted to support a new public safety building, and The Leonardo, Becker says it didn't seem right to place the burden on homeowners.

"We wanted to do everything we could to avoid raising property taxes," he said.

Becker's Fiscal Year 2011 Budget doesn't, but that comes at cost. Sixty-seven government jobs are being eliminated -- some through attrition, but 25 people will be laid off.

Examples of gap-closing actions

Increasing revenue sources$5.5 million
Staff Changes$4.8 million
Community & Economic Development$1.2 million
Finance $350,000
Fire $1.3 million
Police $1.3 million
Public Services $3 million
Non-departmental $2.5 million
<b>Total</b> <b>19.95 million</b>
Salt Lake City

Employees will also pay more for their health insurance. It will cost more to park at the City Library and at the airport. Greenhouses will close and parks will not be watered as often, the grass not cut as much. Mid-block street lights will not be lit.

The police department will see reductions in fleet fuel and maintenance, but the number of officers will not change.

"It sends a very strong message of what the priorities are for the city and what we need to focus on going into the future," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank.

"These are tough times," Becker said, "and we've got to figure out how to serve the public well."

The mayor says city services are prepared to do more with less, working extra hard to serve citizens. That's something many can sympathize with.

"I do understand you have to make hard choices," said library patron Jennifer Fisher.

Library patron Carolyn Franklin said, "Sometimes that's what has to happen, things have to go up."

The city council will spend the next few months looking over the budget, possibly making changes. It has to be finished by June.

E-mail: sdallof@ksl.com

Related links

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahPolitics
Sarah Dallof

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast