Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman thinks this would be a bad time to raise taxes. She's right.
Workman has submitted a budget for 2004 that once again holds the line on taxes while rejecting many of the requests other county elected officials have made for new programs and expenditures. If approved by the County Council, it also would preserve the county's impressive triple-A bond rating, which ought to be an encouraging sign for all county residents.
Joe Hatch, a member of the County Council, has blasted Workman's budget, saying it does nothing but defer problems for a year in order to ensure Workman's re-election. He compared the county's current situation with 2000, the last year before the county's form of government changed from a commission to a council-mayor. Before leaving office, commissioners passed a huge tax increase to make up for years of artificially holding down tax rates.
Certainly, elections always will enter into any decision made by a politician. But that's a good thing, particularly if it keeps public expenditures down.
But frankly, we don't see the comparison with 2000. True, the ending fund balance in Workman's 2004 budget — better understood as a projected surplus — is about $6 million less than the actual surplus at the end of 2000. But it is more than what the law requires, and more than enough to satisfy bond rating agencies.
Hatch would like a small tax increase to bulk up the surpluses. But a large surplus would mean only one thing — taxpayers are giving too much. Every dollar taken from taxpayer wallets is a dollar that no longer can churn in the economy. With a shaky recovery under way, the economy needs every dollar it can get.
That said, we do have concerns about one part of the budget. The mayor wants to transfer $1.8 million from the Zoo, Arts and Parks fund, known by the acronym ZAP, into the general fund. Voters approved the ZAP tax a few years ago in order to bond for specific projects. Now that fund is producing more revenue than is needed to retired those bonds.
Next year, voters will be asked to renew the ZAP tax. We believe it is worthy of renewal, but such transfers may make it more difficult to convince taxpayers of the need. Whenever governments sell voters on the need to raise taxes for a specific purpose, they ought to hold true to that purpose.
Still, we understand the county's need to juggle available funds, particularly when the only alternative is to ask for another tax increase.
Salt Lake County is in a tough spot. Its revenues are falling. It is prohibited by law from automatically growing along with the annual inflation rate. Given this, Workman's budget is a sign of sincere respect for the plight of average wage earners, who are growing weary of demands from government.