The first-year Republican D.A. booed Democratic Mayor Peter Corroon's money management, accusing him of leaving her office overworked and understaffed.

Miller's plea comes less than 24 hours before the Salt Lake County Council considers her 2008 budget request - a $3 million wish list that includes nine new prosecutors.

"We are asking for the money we need to keep this community safe and do our jobs well," she said.

And so Miller continues to advocate a 26 percent bounce in her budget from this year. She insists it wouldn't take a tax hike - only a change in the county's financial priorities - but declined to say which departments should be trimmed to free up her funding.

"Obviously, the policy decision of who gets cut and what priorities to take place applies to the council," she said.

Corroon stood silently behind a row of television cameras Monday as Miller rallied for more resources. He smiled and responded simply that he's got more to think about financially than just the District Attorney's Office.

"Criminal justice is a priority," the first-term mayor said. "But it's a holistic system. It's not just prosecution. It is also the jail and human services."

Under Corroon's proposal, the District Attorney's Office would get a 9.5 percent bump next year. That money would pay for eight more employees - mostly court-services workers and subpoena runners - but no more prosecutors.

That boost would be in addition to the dozen new hires, including six additional attorneys, she received last summer.

"Unfortunately," Corroon said, "we can't fund everything for everybody."

Even so, Miller said the mayor has put too low a priority on prosecution when case filings for adult offenders have climbed 17 percent above last year.

The District Attorney's Office estimates it will screen more than 9,900 adult felony cases this year or 215 cases per felony prosecutor. That compares to the American Bar Association's recommendation of 150 cases per prosecutor.

"Without these resources," Miller said, "we're not going to be able to provide the services that law enforcement needs in this community."

Her comments received a nod from more than a dozen law-enforcement officials, who served as a uniformed backdrop to her Monday news conference at the County Government Center.

The crowd included Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank, staffers from the Utah Attorney General's Office and top cops from suburbs such as South Salt Lake, Midvale, Taylorsville and Sandy.

"Better support, provided by more prosecutors, will help those of us fighting crime on the streets," said Sandy Police Chief Steve Chapman.

Conspicuously absent from Monday's presentation: Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder. The Democratic lawman ascribed his absence to a scheduling error and said he supports Miller's push for more prosecutors.

The district attorney's demand for more staffing comes as her office struggles to keep existing employees. Fifteen attorneys have resigned since Miller took office in January - a post-election turnover that amounts to 17 percent of her 88-lawyer department - increasing the workload on the remaining prosecutors.

Miller denied the departures are a sign of internal turmoil. Although "a couple of prosecutors" bolted because of policy changes, she said her office generally is moving in a "very positive direction."

"If there is low morale, it is because we are overworked," said Cara Tangaro, a special-victims team prosecutor who backed her boss's request. "We need more prosecutors. We need more paralegals. We need more secretaries."

But Miller's public plea didn't change minds on the Republican-led County Council.

GOP Councilman Jeff Allen remains in her camp. "I would like to fund the majority of her request."

And Democrats such as Jim Bradley and Joe Hatch said they probably won't budge from the mayor's recommendation.

"Going to the public," Bradley said, "was probably a waste of her time."

jstettler@sltrib.com