As Salt Lake City ponders the pros and cons of a proposed $475 million budget, we wanted to know what makes a “good” use of your tax dollars?
Mayor Erin Mendenhall called her proposal a “nuts and bolts” budget with a focus on “livability and quality of life” when she presented it to the city council on May 7.
The majority would go toward city employees, with $298.9 million set aside for salaries, pensions and benefits. Other new items include $7 million for the city’s frequent transit network, $2.59 million for additional affordable housing development, $2 million for new infrastructure projects and $750,000 to fix the city’s “most fragmented sidewalks.”
So what do others think about the proposed spending?
“The maintenance stuff is not the stuff that typically gets a lot of attention,” said former Salt Lake City council member and current Jordan River Commission Executive Director Soren Simonsen. “But you begin to notice really fast when you're not doing the nuts and bolts, you know, filling the potholes sort of things.”
For fiscal watchdogs like the Utah Taxpayers Association, only funding the bare necessities is an ideal approach. A good budget to association President Rusty Cannon “is one that sticks to the necessities and the basics, which sounds boring and sounds old school.”
“The cities that typically, over the long run, stick to the need to haves, do much better, which would be roads, public safety and infrastructure. And that's it,” he said.
But transformation is on the horizon for Salt Lake City with the arrival of a new National Hockey League team and an expected Winter Olympics in 2034.
Speaking to that change, Mendenhall told the council her budget “supports the city's present needs and it positions us to move full steam ahead on these generational opportunities, which are approaching at a rapid speed.”
For Cannon, funding present needs “would be the smart thing to do, but it just seems obvious that at least the hockey stadium is moving really fast.”
Salt Lake City has until Sept. 1 to decide whether or not it will raise the sales tax by 0.5% to help fund a multi-billion dollar public infrastructure project related to the Delta Center. That deadline was imposed by the Legislature when it passed a law that provided the framework for a “sports, entertainment, culture and convention district” in the downtown core. The decision to raise the sales tax is separate from the formal budgeting process.
With change fast approaching, others see this moment as an opportunity for the city to find a balance between its current needs and long-term goals.
“Budgeting is a hard thing to do,” Simonsen said. “Short term, long term, you know, the future direction you want to go versus, present needs. It's a struggle to try and balance all of that.”
One thing that could help is to look at cities across the country that are comparable to the greater Salt Lake City area.
“Look to peer cities for guidance,” said University of Utah Distinguished Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning Reid Ewing.
“We have cities that are a little ahead of us in a lot of areas. Seattle, Portland, Denver. If you're trying to figure out how to run a program, or what investment to make or whatever, check with peer cities.”
The public also has a voice in this process. Residents had their first opportunity to weigh in on the city’s budget on May 21. The next public hearing is June 4.
Salt Lake City and municipalities across Utah have until June 30 to finalize their budgets for the upcoming 2025 fiscal year.
