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SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskuspski released her annual budget proposal Monday, outlining how the city would spend an additional $25 million from the city's proposed 0.5 percent sales tax increase.
That includes $2.2 million for 27 more police officers, $7.1 million for streets and infrastructure, $5.3 million to implement the city's Transit Master Plan, and $4.1 million for affordable housing projects in the sales tax hike's first year, which would raise taxes by about 5 cents for every $10 spent.
The proposal, coined "Funding Our Future," is an "opportunity for (Utah's) capital city to control its own destiny," Biskupski said.
"If passed by the (City) Council, Funding Our Future will allow Salt Lake City to do what many cities across the country have been able to accomplish — that is to implement strategic plans quickly, through a dedicated funding source," Biskupski said.
The mayor's proposal comes the day before the Salt Lake City Council is tentatively scheduled to vote on the sales tax hike. The council was originally scheduled to vote on the tax increase two weeks ago but delayed the decision amid concerns from the downtown business community, which wanted more specifics on how the revenue would be spent.
Related:
SLC delays vote on proposed sales tax hike amid concerns of spending uncertainty
Amid concerns from downtown business leaders and a fellow council member about specifically how a proposed sales tax hike's revenue will be spent and bound in the future, Salt Lake City Council Chairwoman Erin Mendenhall said she'll delay the vote.Biskupski proposed the half-penny sales tax hike in her State of the City address in January, paired with an $87 million bond for transportation projects the City Council is also expected later this year to decide whether to place it on the ballot this November.
The sales tax hike, which will collect about $33 million annually after its first partial year of collecting revenue, was made possible by the Utah Legislature, which included the tax hike option in the prison relocation bill passed in 2015 meant to offset the impact of the prison.
The mayor's budget would be about $275 million without the sales tax increase, and about $300 million with the sales tax hike.
Her proposal also includes about $2 million in departmental spending cuts — including the elimination of vacant positions — which were offset by about $1.35 million more from a 7 percent rise in employee health insurance costs and $734,000 more to cover salary and benefits of employees hired this fiscal year.
