Turns out, a large percentage of Salt Lake County's political appointees take taxpayer tuition assistance - some for master's and even doctoral programs.

But critics - including former acting Mayor Alan Dayton and former County Councilman Steve Harmsen - tried to pluck that perk last year. They feared the exempt employees were attending classes when they should have been working. In short, taking the county dime on county time.

"We were really paying for this twice," said Harmsen, who raised the issue during council meetings last October but "couldn't get any traction."

"The fact that exempt employees were abusing it was my focus."

Reining in the program also was broached during a Cabinet meeting last fall in which Dayton called the practice of paying tuition for politicos "a joke."

"Why are taxpayers paying for their degrees," he said Wednesday. "Is that what we're really all about?"

Dayton says tuition reimbursements should go to merit employees, who are more apt to stay in county jobs long term rather than appointees who "come and go."

But Councilmen Joe Hatch and Jim Bradley argued that more knowledgeable employees benefit the county and community no matter what.

"Even if employees leave the county after one year, they will be leaving as a more productive person in society," Hatch said according to minutes from a September 2004 council meeting.

Since the county's change of government in 2001, multiple council aides have continued their educations with county cash. Several enrolled in master's programs, one finished a Ph.D., and appointees in other departments have registered for similar programs.

Even though hours are flexible for appointed employees, many insist they work 40-hour weeks and "frequently more."

"This has been a very useful tool," said April Townsend, associate director for Human Services, an appointee who completed her master's under the county program and is now finishing a doctorate. "Unfortunately, some people have misused it."

djensen@sltrib.com