When the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office splinters into a stand-alone police department next year, its patrol deputies could escape the 2.75 percent pay cut now hanging over thousands of county employees.

But that doesn't mean the newly formed Unified Police Department won't take a financial hit elsewhere.

Salt Lake County today will consider erasing $375,000 from its contract with the UPD next year to reflect the money it might have saved by shrinking those deputies' salaries.

County leaders already have announced plans for an across-the-board pay reduction for their nearly 4,000 employees, plus the continued suspension of any public contribution to those workers' 401(k) accounts.

Trouble is, the sheriff's deputies and civilian staffers won't work for the county next year. All 530-plus employees will join the UPD -- an independent agency governed by a board of trustees consisting of officials from the county and a handful of member cities, including Holladay, Herriman and Riverton.

"We are in a budget crunch," Mayor Peter Corroon said Monday. "At the same time, we recognize the UPD is an independent organization and has the right to set compensation as it sees fit."

So if the County Council decides today to pinch its payment for policing, the UPD may have to think hard about how to absorb those cuts. Should the agency shave wages like the county plans to do? Should it scale back services in unincorporated suburbs such as Magna and Kearns to reflect a lower budget? Or should those residents be asked to pay more in fees for police protection?

Councilman Jim Bradley believes the county should not slice into its UPD contribution.

"It is important for us to send the message that, yes, we are giving you -- in full -- our patrol services, the assets and everything else," he said. "It is our statement of honor that we are serious about forming an honest-to-God union with them."

But Councilman Joe Hatch counters that the county simply would be treating the UPD like any other contracted entity -- many facing cuts under the county's proposed 2010 spending plan. The pared-down payment would not violate the county's contract.

With the economy still sputtering, Corroon unveiled a dramatically downsized budget last week that would slash $142 million in spending (not counting the money that will leave with UPD next year), add $13.4 million through a property-tax hike and pump several million into the general fund's reserves to preserve the county's coveted triple-A bond rating.

The council has until next month to adopt the 2010 budget.

Whatever the county decides, Riverton Mayor Bill Applegarth said the decision about trimming wages or reshaping police patrols rests with the UPD board. And, for his part, he isn't a fan of squeezing paychecks.

"The last thing I would ever want to do," he said, "is cut salaries."

jstettler@sltrib.com