This evening, the Salt Lake County Council unanimously approved the County’s budget for 2024. The 2024 budget faced multiple challenges, including a slowdown in tax revenues, the downward bias in property taxes, inflation, and increased healthcare costs. To navigate this challenging fiscal landscape, Salt Lake County Mayor Wilson and the County Council agreed to wide-ranging budget cuts, finding efficiencies and places to cut back wherever possible while protecting the essential work of Salt Lake County.
Salt Lake County’s 2024 budget will provide continued funding for public safety and behavioral health services. It includes increased pay for sworn officers in the Sheriff’s office, maintenance of public parks, an extensive network of trails, and continued investment in essential public services like libraries, health clinics, aging services, and animal services. The County’s work supports public safety, economic development, public health, parks and trails, affordable housing, social services, arts and culture, recreation, and so much more.
“While we had to be very strategic and make cuts across the board, I’m proud of the way this budget invests in the people of Salt Lake County. The My County Rec Pass, which will provide free access to our recreation centers to all kids in Salt Lake County, is one of the most exciting changes in my time as Mayor,” said Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson.
“The top priority of the Salt Lake County Council is public safety,” said Salt Lake County Council Chair Aimee Winder Newton. “While we found cuts in travel and other areas, we made sure there was adequate funding for the jail, prosecution, behavioral health, and areas that keep our community safe and healthy.”
Key initiatives approved in the budget include:
- My County Rec Pass: Free Rec Center Passes for Children: As of summer 2024, all school-age youth, ages 5-18 who are Salt Lake County residents will be able to access all County-operated recreation centers, ice centers, and swimming pools (indoor and outdoor) at no cost. This program is funded by the Tourism, Recreation, Culture & Convention Support Program (TRCC), which raises revenue from tourism, so can be funded even in this tight budget year.
- Elimination of Library Late Fees for Children: As of next summer, all late fees on children and young adult materials will be eliminated for a one-year pilot program. This will eliminate barriers to all of the fantastic resources available in the award-winning Salt Lake County Libraries for children and young adults. Late fees too often keep the very residents who could benefit most from using the library. While late fees for children’s material will be waived, they are still expected to return checked-out materials after a three-month period or will be charged for them.
Some of the key cuts in the budget included cutting county-wide travel expenses in half, denying 90% of new general fund requests, a 3% spending cut on personnel budgets in county-wide tax funded programs, and a 2% cut to program operations budgets in county-wide tax funded programs.
