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SALT LAKE CITY — The two candidates for Salt Lake County mayor got into a tangle over law enforcement spending for the second time in less than a week on Thursday. The back and forth was renewed when Democrat Ben McAdams received the endorsement of the county's police union.
Fully 70 percent of Salt Lake County's general fund budget goes to law enforcement programs, the county's jail and related human services. The costs are rising and revenues are not keeping pace.
Thursday, Democrat Ben McAdams picked up a police endorsement, as the sheriff, fellow Democrat Jim Winder, reiterated his support for a collaborative four-year plan.
"We've got to identify as the population grows and the crime rate increases…we've got to have enough beds to incapacitate serious offenders and be able to still deal with lesser offenders in an effective and efficient way," Winder said.
"I believe decisions, especially decisions about criminals in jail, should be made based on fact than on half-baked proposals that have no proof in reality," said McAdams.
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S.L. County mayoral candidates sound off on education, law enforcement
Sheriff Jim Winder's tirade last week against Mark Crockett followed the GOP candidate for Salt Lake County mayor to Monday's KSL NewsRadio debate.All this comes less than a week after Winder locked horns with Republican mayoral candidate Mark Crockett who today says he, not McAdams has the management skills to best improve programs while cutting costs.
"In my entire campaign I've been talking about how we need to be careful and to reduce spending in all our county programs so we can make key investments in all of these human services programs," Crockett said.
Meantime, both candidates say a tax increase is not on the table.
"I think the first place we need to look when we're balancing the budget is what we can cut, how we can work smarter and more efficiently we need to look there first," McAdams said.
"Yes, I can say we are not going to be raising taxes in the first year because we are going to be finding enough savings from within that that should not be necessary," Crockett said.
Both candidates say they believe they are currently slightly ahead. And both say they expect a close race when the ballots are finally counted Nov. 6.
