SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams proposed a "lean" $1.1 billion budget Tuesday, a financial plan that he says can be achieved without raising taxes.
Addressing the Salt Lake County Council, McAdams said the budget was prepared as the nation emerges from the Great Recession, as the county copes with sluggish sales tax collections resulting from Kennecott's massive landslide and the ongoing uncertainty presented by the state's inaction on Medicaid reform.
"My baseline approach was to fund new priorities with existing tax dollars while maintaining our structural balance," he said.
McAdams' proposal includes a 2.75 percent merit pay raise for county employees. The budget also contemplates hiring the full-time equivalent of 19.75 employees, which would include three prosecutors in the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
The plan also includes $40 million for deferred maintenance in 2015, requests for which have exceeded $45 million since 2012.
"Because of the strong commitment of the past three years, I'm pleased to announce we've succeeded in cutting the backlog in half. I'm encouraged but won't be fully satisfied until we meet our goal," the mayor said.
While addressing the county's needs within existing tax revenues poses challenges, McAdams' address was upbeat, noting that his lean proposal "shows our county is living within its means. It continues to show our task of addressing deferred maintenance. It seizes the opportunity to innovate and pursue 'what works' rather than maintain 'business as usual.'"
As a thriving metropolitan area, Salt Lake County is leading the way in economic growth, job creation, low taxes, public safety, fiscal discipline and innovation, he said.
"Not only are we careful stewards of tax dollars, we're questioning old assumptions about how we prioritize spending and what we expect in return," McAdams said.
He said 2015 will be the year that the county begins to move away from "an outdated 'fund-what-once-worked system' or 'fund-what-we-hope-will-work system' to a 'fund-only-if-it-works'" approach.
"It's a breakthrough that's long overdue," the mayor said.
One example is the county's pay for success initiative on high-quality preschool, which is a partnership among the county, a private investment firm and a nonprofit agency.
Experts have found that very little evidence is used to support government spending nationally, McAdams said. "Less than $1 out of every $100 of spending is backed by even the most basic evidence that the money was wisely spent," he said.
"Why not replace the old funding recipes with new ones — focused on the outcome we want, not the program we once adopted?"
Starting in 2015, McAdams' administration will study the design of new projects in partnership with researchers, academics, private investors and nonprofits that will align the county's payment for social services with outcomes that meet tough scrutiny and verification, he said.
"This will include partnering with the James Lee Sorensen Global Impact Investing Center housed at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business, which recently received a $1 million grant to provide the technical assistance needed by partners to participate in future 'pay for success' projects," he said.
With an eye on supporting Salt Lake County residents' healthy habits, part of McAdams' budget proposes contributing $100,000 to Utah Trails to improve trails in the central Wasatch range.
"Also, we propose $500,000 to partner with the University of Utah to build tennis courts — used around the clock for training university athletes and county rec programs," he said.
Speaking to council members and other elected officials, McAdams noted that they hold a public trust.
"The consequences of failing to measure the impact of our policies and programs go well beyond wasting scarce tax dollars. Every time a young person participates in a program that doesn't work, but could have participated in one that does, that represents a human cost.
"Fiscal discipline, transparency, accountability, and opportunity for all. These are values that keep us strong," he said.
Email: marjorie@deseretnews.com