However, most of that tax hike was approved in 2004 in connection with the county jail's expansion. Also, commissioners Dannie McConkie and Carol Page are lame ducks; their terms end next month.

Of the $60 tax increase, $35 was previously approved for jail operations and maintenance. In 2006, 25 full-time employees joined the jail's staff, and another 60 will be added in 2007.

The tax increase also will fund improvements on 19 of the county's flood channels, along with three additional flood-control employees.

In addition, the tax increase will be used to enhance the county's senior-citizen programs - to better serve the county's burgeoning elderly population.

For Clerk/Auditor Steve Rawlings, who joined the county in 1990, this will be the third tax boost during his tenure.

In 1984, the county bonded for $12 million to build flood channels, mostly on the south end, Rawlings said. That debt was retired in the mid-1990s.

Inflation, increased maintenance costs and a countywide building boom now drive the need for further channel improvements, Rawlings said.

Senior centers need upgrades, and delivery vehicles for Meals-on-Wheels have more than 150,000 miles and need to be replaced. Also, the food served in those meals should be improved, Rawlings said.

Candidates for the two open commission seats weighed in on the proposed budget.

Republican Bret Millburn, a candidate for seat A, said he hopes county officials have done their homework.

"My approach is to develop a plan and prioritize. You've got the must-have, nice-to-have, and enhancements - and you fund them in that order," he said.

Democrat Rob Miller also seeks that seat.

"They've been so gun-shy about raising taxes at all that they've systematically not done the appropriate small amounts - and now they have to do it all at once," said Miller, an administrator by profession. He advocates trimming fat elsewhere - commissioner pay, for example.

Running for seat B are Democrat Chris Martinez and Republican Louenda Downs

Downs acknowledged that the county's needs are real, but she views a tax increase as a last resort.

"I'd look under every stone because you're dealing with folks on fixed incomes and young families struggling to make it," Downs said.

After educating himself about what the tax boost would fund, Martinez said he supports it.

"At first I was kind of against it, but then I saw the whole picture and figured it was better to pay now than pay more later."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com