Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson wants to add more than 40 people to the city's payrolls and proposes to pay for those positions by raising property taxes and using windfalls from building permit fees and sales tax collections.
Anderson proposed 44 staffing positions Tuesday night to the City Council in his $190 million budget.
Several departments would split the staffers, but Anderson particularly suggested 13 additional police department employees — eight officers, a sergeant, two crime lab technicians and two people to replace officers now in administrative positions. The mayor asked the council to raise property taxes by $940,000 to pay for the police department positions.
The total proposed property tax increase for a $190,000 house in Salt Lake City would be around $38 a year, said Steve Fawcett, the city's budget director.
The property taxes would go toward the new police officers ($940,000), a voter-approved bond for open space and The Leonardo cultural and arts center ($1.2 million), money in case the city is sued ($1.1 million) and compensation for previous low tax rates ($1.3 million).
At least one council member wasn't thrilled about the proposed property tax increases. Council Chairman Dave Buhler said he would like the city to pay for the police officers without hiking taxes, which is what the City Council managed to do last year.
"We already have to raise taxes for voter-approved bonds, so without anything more, we have a small property tax increase," Buhler said. "We'll take a very close look, but I'd like to increase the number of officers without increasing property taxes."
Anderson's speech Tuesday night opens budget season for the City Council, which must settle on the city's finances for the coming fiscal year by the end of June. The mayor's proposals are subject to revision by council members, who can take some, none or all of his suggestions as they hash out the budget in meetings over the next several weeks.
The mayor's budget uses a $2.5 million increase in the city's share of sales taxes and $2.9 million more in building permit fees to fund many of the suggested staff positions. The city, which splits sales tax money with the state and Salt Lake County, has more sales tax money — primarily from durable goods and large-ticket retail items such as cars, Fawcett said.
The city collected 63 percent more money in building permit fees over the previous year from a boom in construction in the city. Additionally, Salt Lake City had around $10.7 million more tax money from economic growth, Fawcett said.
"The administration expects the current construction boom in Salt Lake City to continue," Anderson said. "Our downtown is presently experiencing a surge in commercial and residential construction. This surge, combined with the projected population growth in the area, will improve our tax base and create a more vibrant and livable city."
Anderson asked the City Council to sell $36 million in sales tax bonds to help pay for the 900 South rail line realignment — a deal brokered between the city, Union Pacific, Utah Transit Authority, the state Legislature and the federal government to take a freight-train track and its accompanying noise out of a west-side neighborhood. The rest of the $36 million bond would pay for landscaping and trails on the 900 South rail line after it comes out, and an unrelated fleet facility.
Anderson also pitched Pioneer Park renovations to the City Council, which has been reluctant to completely fund the restoration. Last year the council approved $1.1 million for what the mayor's office hopes is the first phase of a three-phase plan that would eventually cost $4.7 million. Anderson said the park is worth a $400,000 investment this year from the city's capital improvement fund, despite what he called the "resignation and pessimism of a few people."
"The fact that Pioneer Park has fallen into such a state of disrepair is a scandal to our ideals of historic preservation and open-space protection," Anderson said. "Committing funds to renovating this remarkable site on the west side of our city will transform the park into a vibrant community gathering place and help it escape the stigma of being an unsafe and underused green space."
Councilwoman Nancy Saxton, who represents the district that includes Pioneer Park, does not want to spend more money on the park without first sprucing up its image. Saxton wants horse-mounted police officers in the park to clean up its reputation before putting more money into infrastructure improvements.
"I'm in favor of $1.1 million for phase one of phase one," Saxton said. "Getting money for mounted police is essential before we design for any other part."
Anderson wants the city to pay salaries for three people to help run programs for Youth City. Until now, they have been paid by grants. Youth City, a series of after-school programs the city runs for around 4,300 children, gets most of its money from federal grants. But it "should not be solely dependent on grant funding," Anderson said.
Anderson also wants a $90,000-a-year coordinator for open space. That person would manage applications for the city's $5 million dedicated for open-space acquisitions and coordinate between city departments and the open-space advisory board, the mayor said.
Anderson also proposed a new city prosecutor, an additional judge and nine new court clerks for the Justice Courts, which he said are understaffed. When the City Council audited the justice court earlier this year, the auditors suggested a more in-depth review of the department but cautioned that the results would most likely suggest significant staffing increases.
Among Anderson's other requests were:
$150,000 to replace old trees in the city.
$38,000 for more parking-meter collectors. A hike last year in the parking-meter fees means more coins plunking into the metal posts. Those coins collect faster, meaning the city has to collect from them more often.
$68,888 for a new staff member who would monitor the energy efficiency of the city's facilities.
Roughly $133,000 for two new staff members in the planning department
A reduction in 15 full-time golf course employees, which — with a proposed fee increase — would put nearly $500,000 back into the courses' budgets.
E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com