This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Public safety upgrades — including squad cars, bicycle patrols and social workers — were at the top of the list Tuesday evening as the Salt Lake City Council passed a $255 million budget for fiscal year 2016, which begins July 1.
It represents a 6 percent jump in spending from the budget adopted last year and is based, in part, on a projection of $6.4 million more in property tax collections — though tax rates have not gone up.
Mayor Ralph Becker's proposed budget also estimates a sales-tax increase of $1.6 million.
Parking revenues, however, are predicted to remain flat at about $3 million, despite higher fines proposed by the mayor: an increase from $15 to $50 for failing to pay at a parking meter (separate from an expired meter) and an increase from $15 to $25 for expired parking meters.
The council initially questioned whether the overall revenue increase is a one-time spike or a continuing trend. If it were one-time money built into the budget, it could act as a de facto tax increase next year. In such an event, the council would have to slash its budget or somehow raise more revenue to cover ongoing expenditures for fiscal year 2017. The council, however, has now determined that the increase is a trend, rather than a spike.
The budget passed by a 5 to 1 margin. Council Chairman Luke Garrott was the lone dissenting vote. Councilman James Rogers was absent.
Garrott, who is running against Becker, said he could not vote for the budget.
"This is a Christmas tree budget that rests on the sands of future budget projections," he said.
In prepared statements, he lashed out at the mayor for raising parking fines and not doing enough to spur affordable housing.
But Councilman Charlie Luke said that on the whole, it was a "good budget," adding that "no budget is perfect."
The budget jump will trigger a truth-in-taxation hearing.
Although former Police Chief Chris Burbank had requested no new officers, the council voted for more police presence, particularly on the east side — as such, it added eight new bicycle patrol officers.
In a related move that was something of a surprise, the council also added eight social workers to the police department to aid officers dealing with homeless people.
Together, the bike cops and counselors will cost $1.1 million, on top of Becker's proposed police budget of $60.4 million.
Burbank had said that new cars and laptops were more important than an increase in personnel. He told the council that the department had an adequate number of officers on the street.
But the outcry from east-side residents, saying that police presence is lacking and response times are slow, pushed the council to hire more bike cops. The addition of social workers, it is believed, will free up officers for other duties.
During its budget sessions, the council also voted to apply for a federal grant that would add 15 additional police officers to the force. If awarded, the funding would pay for 75 percent of those salaries for three years.
If the city got the grant, the council would have to revisit the budget to appropriate money for the balance of those salaries as well as equipment for the new hires — about $900,000 if all 15 positions were funded.
The council also approved $50,000 to make crime statistics more readily available to the public.
It also allocated $25,000 to enhance sexual-harassment training at the fire and police departments.
The mayor's 2016 budget proposal outlines $750,000 for new vehicles. Last week, the council approved an amendment to the current year's budget (fiscal year 2015) that calls for $1 million in new vehicles. That's a total of $1.75 million in new vehicles across Salt Lake City's fleet, including police cars.
In other budget highlights, the council endorsed the mayor's proposal that would increase wages of all city workers — including seasonal employees — to at least $10 per hour.
It also included the mayor's budget item that allocates $1 million to continue the Hive transportation program that makes UTA passes available to Salt Lake City residents at a significant discount.
The council signed off on a line item for $100,000 to make permanent Glendale's YouthCity program at the Sorenson Unity Center.
The mayor's budget proposed $400,000 for the urban forestry program. The allocation would be used to hire three additional employees and would plant some 250 trees. The council added $62,500 to that sum to increase the number of new trees.
The Sugar House fireworks program got $15,000 to help underwrite the July 4 fireworks and end the annual drama of whether that show would go on.
Not least, the council's general fund budget added $840,000 for capital improvement program, bringing the overall CIP budget to $18 million. The council will begin deliberations in late July to determine which projects get funded this year.
The mayor's proposed budget can found at http://www.slcdocs.com/budget.