Salt Lake County Auditor Greg Hawkins will have his day in court Dec. 15, seeking to block the County Council from transferring budget responsibilities from his office to the county mayor's office.

Third District Judge Sandra Peuler scheduled the preliminary injunction hearing on Monday, hours after Hawkins followed through on an earlier pledge to sue over the proposed change.

The Republican auditor contends the council violated state law Nov. 15, when it voted 8-1 to amend the prevailing optional plan of Salt Lake County government to make the mayor the county's budget officer.

In the decade since the optional plan took effect, the auditor's office prepared a tentative budget outlook and prepared a revenue overview for the County Council. At the same time, the mayor's office was developing its own budget proposal, incorporating the auditor's revenue estimates into a spending plan that went to the council for adjustments and final approval.

A council-requested study by the Government Finance Officers Association recommended moving the whole budgeting process into the mayor's office to improve the county's "effectiveness, efficiency and collaboration."

The leading financial staffers for the mayor and council wholeheartedly support the switch, contending it also would allow the auditor's office to spend more time doing audits.

In his lawsuit, Hawkins argued that the transfer was unconstitutional because it consolidated part of his office into the mayor's without a required referendum.

He also maintained the change would cut his budget by 65 percent and move more than half his staff to the mayor's office, dramatically impacting the character of the auditor's office Hawkins was elected to run.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ralph Chamness, representing the mayor and council, said a written response to Hawkins' arguments will be filed before the Dec. 15 hearing.

Mayor Peter Corroon's spokesman, Jim Braden, noted that the council's tentatively approved budget for the auditor's office reduces its allocation by only 13 percent, since only budget preparation was moved to the mayor's office. The larger percentage cited by Hawkins would have included a transfer of accounting as well, but the council did not endorse that switch.

Hawkins is represented by attorney Blake Atkin, who has offices in Bountiful and Clifton, Idaho.

In budget deliberations earlier this month, council members characterized the action more as moving a function from one office to another rather than an attempt to dismantle the auditor's office, as Hawkins asserts.

mikeg@sltrib.com

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What's next

P A hearing on Salt Lake County Auditor Greg Hawkins' lawsuit will be held Dec. 15 before 3rd District Judge Sandra Peuler.