Doing more with less in a tight budget year

Our Salt Lake County budget process is wrapping up, and I wanted to share some of the things we’ve done as we look to approve the 2025 budget.

As we look to be fiscal prudent, one of our top priorities is to maintain our AAA bond rating. We are one of only a few dozen counties in the nation with this highest bond rating. That equates to much lower interest rates on bonds/loans.

I want to outline some of the key principles I’ve brought to the budget this year and every year prior. 
 
First and foremost, tax dollars collected don’t “belong” to the county. They are your dollars. Taxpayers entrust the county, or any government for that matter, with a portion of their hard-earned money, and in exchange, expect the government to perform essential, necessary functions for the constituency. There is no amount of tax dollars that is too small to be scrutinized. That is why I push back aggressively anytime I hear someone say, “It’s only x dollars…so we shouldn’t worry about it.”  
 
Any expenditure whether it is $10,000 or $10 million should be reviewed, and if it can’t be fully justified to the taxpayers, it should be cut. 
 
Second, I believe that all government functions should be viewed in two different categories: “need to have” and “nice to have.”
 
The “need to have” list obviously includes things that are statutorily required of the county to perform, as mentioned above, including public safety.
 
The “nice to have” list includes quality of life aspects, as well as any other program or effort that can easily be described as “good” or of benefit to the county, but not absolutely necessary.
 
These two lists are by no means exhaustive, but this demonstrates the same principle that every family in our county goes through in their annual budgets.

Because of inflation it’s been a hard budget year. As you know, everything from food to gas has increased over the past few years. This is especially hard on government budgets.

This year, since we’ve been asking our departments to do more with less, I believe the council should have to do the same. I will be proposing that we do an office restructure in the county council office. Currently, each council member gets to hire one full-time policy advisor. We have additional central staff who help us with communication, legislative, fiscal and legal matters.

Because three of our nine council members are leaving office, it’s a good time to make a change for the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the council. I hope the majority of my colleagues will join me as I propose that each political caucus gets two policy advisors rather than everyone getting their own. It will cut four full-time positions and almost a half a million dollars of taxpayer funds. We are asking others to do more with less, and we should be willing to do the same.
 
Lastly, I review each aspect of our budget and ask, “Is this the proper role of county government?” I’ve said many times that government can’t and shouldn’t be all things to all people.
 
I’m confident that these principles are the essence of good budgeting, and I will always advocate for this approach any time government is given the trust of the public through their tax dollars. You can rest assured that for 2025, Salt Lake County has a balanced budget with no tax increase.