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SALT LAKE CITY — The third hiring freeze since 2008 is in place in Salt Lake County government as county officials work to close a projected $17 million shortfall in the $250 million budget for 2012.
Estimates beyond 2012 don't look much brighter, leaving Mayor Peter Corroon to project that the rising costs to the county of things like fuel and healthcare will continue to outstrip revenues from property taxes for several more years.
"Even with the economy coming back slightly, that's not going to solve our budget issues," Corroon said on Wednesday. County departments are being asked to present 2012 proposals that trim their budgets by 6 percent.
Perhaps the most visible impacts will be seen in the sheriff's and District Attorney's offices, Corroon said. "What the (County Council) asked the sheriff and D.A. to do is give them some indication of what a 6 percent cut would look like." Sheriff Jim Winder estimates he'd have to cut 60 people from his department.
Every department believes that their function is critical, and they are. But at the end of the day, we're all going to have to do something to get this budget balanced.
–Peter Corroon
"Every department believes that their function is critical, and they are. But at the end of the day, we're all going to have to do something to get this budget balanced," Corroon said.
Employee salaries and benefits are a significant portion of the county's general fund budget, and the portion over which the county has the most control, the mayor said. "We're a service business, and people provide those services," Corroon said.
The Salt Lake County Council approved a resolution Tuesday putting the hiring freeze in place. The sanitation and solid-waste divisions are being handled differently since they work on fee-based budgets, and those departments are not included in the hiring freeze. The council will consider hiring exceptions during the freeze. "If critical positions need to be filled, they'll just have to go through extra hoops."
The budgeting process continues through November with the next year's budget taking effect Jan. 1. "So we're really pretty early in the process here. We recognize we're in a difficult situation, so we wanted to start early and take any initial actions now before the budget year begins," Corroon said of the decision to announce the hiring freeze now. "We'll start the freeze this year to save jobs for next year."
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