Two budgets. One county.
Every year, the Salt Lake County Council has been building its spending plans from two distinct budgets to oversee a government with the second-largest public ledger in Utah.
One, from the auditor, focuses mostly on revenue. The other, by the mayor, pays more attention to spending. The two are presented to the council within a week of each other.
The County Council considered Tuesday stripping some of those budget powers away from the auditor, an ultimately unsuccessful measure that council Republicans suggested could save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in duplicative spending.
Leave the auditor in charge of projecting revenue, conservatives argued, and bestow broader budgeting authority on the mayor. (Both offices are held by Democrats.)
"If I were to ... say, 'What is the best way to set up an organization?' " Republican Councilman Michael Jensen asked, "none of us would say that we should have the structure that we have currently."
But the proposal collapsed along party lines, with Democrats contending that the elected auditor's independence from policymakers made good sense to avoid politically minded manipulation of the budget.
Councilman Joe Hatch, a Democrat, warned that someday the Mayor's Office could end up crunching its own numbers about how much money would flow into county coffers -- dollar amounts that ultimately would determine how much officials could spend.
"At some time down the road," Hatch said, "this county [would] rue the fact that a change has occurred."
As to savings, Auditor Jeff Hatch disputed what good could come through the move. The only obvious savings, he said, is the $1,800 price tag of printing the auditor's budget. The county would have to devote staff time to develop those numbers anyway.
Instead of improving the process, he said, it would remove a critical check and balance.
So with Democrats standing firm against the change in a 5-4 vote, the council voted in favor of another sweeping reform: Take the auditor out of the payroll business. That change, centralizing payroll services elsewhere, passed almost unanimously.
Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, a Democrat, cast the lone no vote. She said the council is moving ahead with several "very major" organizational decisions without fully exploring potential consequences.
But her colleagues are banking on a leaner ledger -- maybe $400,000 to $500,000 in savings each year -- according to a rough estimate from the Mayor's Office.
It "remains to be seen whether it is a helpful reform," replied Auditor Hatch, who doubts the county will realize a significant savings, "or just shuffling deck chairs."
Call it gutsy. Call it foolhardy. Or call it thrifty.
All three might apply to Salt Lake County Councilman David Wilde's controversial attempt Tuesday to cut more than $5 million from a human-services budget that covers nearly sacrosanct social programs such as Meals on Wheels, homelessness prevention and substance-abuse treatment.
"We just need to work harder to try to balance this budget without a tax increase," the Republican argued. "Our residents are hurting."
But the measure was overwhelmingly defeated in an emotional debate that didn't capture a single supporting vote, even from fellow Republicans.
"What in the hell are we doing?" asked one Democrat, Councilman Jim Bradley.
"That is the most irresponsible budget-related motion I've been privy to since coming here," responded another, Councilwoman Jenny Wilson.
But Wilde stood firm behind the measure as a much-needed fix for a 2010 budget that, although shrinking by more than $140 million, proposes a $13.4 million property-tax increase.
With the county's contribution to human services approaching $80 million -- not counting library services -- Wilde argued the county should be able to find the savings.
"I just don't believe the claims that, if we do this, there will be blood in the streets," he said. "People will be upset. But it is not irresponsible to do this."
But the councilman stood alone.
"It is a budget solution that will create a community problem," Mayor Peter Corroon said, "which is not a solution at all."
Jeremiah Stettler
