Only six of 75 U.S. metropolitan areas were given high marks in the audit.

The report, based upon evaluations by Department of Homeland Security auditors this summer, listed Salt Lake County among 14 locales deemed "advanced" in how local governments have worked toward communications cooperation, with local decision-making bodies "updating their agreements and strategic plan on a regular basis," according to the report.

The county and its public safety agencies, the report stated, "should be commended as a model for how its budget and communications equipment procurement decisions are made with consideration for regional interoperability."

But Salt Lake County was less well regarded in actual operating procedures, ranking in the bottom quarter of cities in that category. According to the report, public safety officials exhibited "confusion with communications" during the exercise witnessed by auditors.

State officials hoped the county's score in a third category - demonstrated use of communications equipment - would dispel concerns that emergency responders won't be able to communicate in an emergency. The agencies, the report said, "are accustomed to working together as a team and are able to demonstrate proficiency in using interoperable communications when needed."

Mike Kuehn, deputy commissioner for the state Division of Homeland Security, considered the report good news.

"You know, I actually felt really good about everything," said Kuehn, who was new to his position when the auditors came through Utah. "I think it shows we're headed in the right direction. They identified things that we've already identified as areas to work on."

Among those areas, the auditors said that Salt Lake County's emergency agencies needed to develop a strategic plan to continue to improve communications among agencies.

Critics, including many congressional Democrats, said the report's conclusions on a national level showed that one of the biggest problems revealed in the response to the Sept. 11 attacks - the inability of first responders to communicate with counterparts from other agencies and jurisdictions - has not been properly rectified.

"Five years after 9/11, we continue to turn a deaf ear to gaps in interoperable communications," said Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat. "If it didn't have such potentially devastating consequences, it would be laughable."

mlaplante@sltrib.com

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* THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.