Provo » Most Utah County residents won't see their county property taxes go up next year.

County commissioners say budget cuts from department heads -- combined with unspent money from this year's budget -- have brought the county within the $77 million they say is needed to cover expenses in 2009.

"Our people have stepped up," Commission Chairman Gary Anderson said Tuesday. "The sheriff and others said they would do more with less, and I believe the sacrifice they are making is for the benefit of the public."

Department heads were originally asked to cut back to a $70.9 million budget due to shrinking tax revenue, but Commissioner Steve White said that number was given to get department heads to think seriously about cutting budgets.

He said initial departmental budget requests were based on this year's $84 million budget.

Sheriff Jim Tracy originally was asked to cut $9.6 million from his budget, but Tracy ended up reducing it by $5.9 million -- a reduction of 18 deputies' posts, he said, adding that he was also able to realize an additional $4 million in savings by not opening the Utah County jail to its full capacity.

White and Anderson said the county will try to keep deputies on patrol with the cuts. He said the county may trim back some of the sheriff's administrative staff instead.

Tracy earlier had said that cuts would mean fewer deputies on the street, as most of the deputies

would be shifted to vacant positions in the jail. He hopes White can keep deputies on patrol as he promised.

Anderson, who had been described as favoring a property tax increase, said it was never his intention to raise taxes to fix the budget problems.

"I just said we may not be able to avoid it," Anderson said. "Nobody wants to raise taxes."

dmeyers@sltrib.com