Since late last week, 34 Utah Transit Authority employees have personally felt the impact of the nationwide recession that caused sales tax revenues to tank for many months.

By week's end, UTA's layoffs -- the first in the agency's 40-year history -- will be finished and almost three dozen workers will join the ranks of the unemployed.

"We're having to change how we do business, how we operate and how we plan for the future," said UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter, citing a $40 million decline in projected sales tax revenues since the recession's onset as the impetus to slim down.

Late last fall -- as budget numbers made it obvious that cuts had to happen -- the mass-transit provider hired the Denver-based Center for Organizational Design to scrutinize its 2,060 positions for inefficiency and redundancy.

Late last week, the first round of layoffs occurred, with 20 "unique" positions -- not critical to operations -- getting axed.

The second round began this week, with employees in redundant positions being asked to reapply and compete with each other to eliminate an additional 14 slots by Friday.

"It has been hard," Carpenter said. "We're talking about co-workers and friends, some whom we've worked with for many years."

Each exiting employee gets from two to 20 weeks severance pay, depending on how long they've been with UTA, Carpenter said.

The company has also eliminated 72 positions through attrition during the past year, bringing the total job trim to 106 and whittling annual personnel costs by $6.6 million.

Only four layoffs were union maintenance jobs, Carpenter said, adding that no bus or train operators were affected.

UTA's $1.2 million bonus pool also was frozen during this year, siphoning 10 to 15 percent off top executive pay.

The bus-and-train agency has also reduced services to save another $3.2 million. More service cuts and possible fare increases will come up for public discussion soon.