Some budget highlights: a $30 million investment in capital improvements, a 1.5 percent cost-of-living raise for city workers and no tax increases.

"This budget tries, in prudent ways, to focus the resources of the city," Provo Mayor Lewis Billings said. "It is not a very complex budget, but it is a very large budget."

Indeed, Provo's budget is more than twice the $68 million total recently approved by Orem, Utah County's second most-populous city. Billings nonetheless hailed Provo's budget as a model of frugality and one based on the principles of "paying as we go" and "living within our means."

Provo council members agreed. The budget they adopted late Tuesday is largely identical to the one Billings proposed in May. The main change is the council set aside $15,000 for a parking study and another $50,000 in the budget to study the feasibility of building a new recreation center in Provo. A similar study on a recreation center was done five years ago.

"There seemed to be a lot of support five years ago," said Mike Bateman, vice chairman of the Parks and Recreation Board. "We really feel that this item should be one of the top agenda items on our discussion list each month."

While the administration plans no major expansion of the municipal work force, the budget does contain some money to help with construction of an $8 million performing arts center. The plan also includes a 6 percent rise in water rates, effective July 1.

Public safety will get a boost in the form of 16 new police cruisers, five new ambulances and four new firefighting trucks, as well as the hiring of a technician to operate a new traffic-control center.

The budget provoked little public comment at Tuesday's meeting.

Those who did voice an opinion argued the merits of the city's housing-rehabilitation program that pumps municipal money into older "pioneer" neighborhoods to revitalize aging homes and promote homeownership.

Now that the budget is approved, Councilwoman Cynthia Dayton says the council will begin conducting monthly budget reviews.

"We want to make sure we're respecting the desires of the citizens of Provo and enhancing their lives as best we can," Dayton said.

Councilman Dave Knecht believes the 2006 budget does that.

"The city makes good use of the limited funds that it has," Knecht said. "The administration, to their credit, have been fairly reluctant to raise revenues or taxes."

thollingshead@sltrib.com