Cities within Utah County have been forced to begin penny pinching with the commencement of the 2009 budgets.

While Provo and Orem city budgets do not call for job cuts, Utah County has announced it will be cutting 50 positions.

"We do have to have a balanced budget," said Bryan Thompson, Utah County clerk auditor. "Our target was to get rid of 50 positions in the county, so we offered a severance package that 34 people took. So far, only 12 positions have been eliminated."

Utah County's budget decreased from $85.8 to $71.5 million due to a 6-8 percent decrease in projected revenues.

Smaller budgeting is also planned for Orem. Orem city planners met at the beginning of the fiscal year, in September, to review potential difficulties the city might face.

They estimated a $2-3 million shortfall for 2009. As a result, plans for building a new $1.8 million fire station were put on hold and other smaller items were set aside.

Orem City Manager Jeff Peterson clarified that so far no employees have been laid off as a result of this year's budget.

While no jobs are being cut at this time, funding for programs to train employees have been reduced.

"However, education training is an important factor, so we don't want to put training budgets on hold for too long," Peterson said.

Orem city planners said they hope to cut costs wherever possible. Goals to analyze positions and see where technology can be used instead are in progress right now. This goal might lead to an elimination of job positions in the future.

Provo's situation is a more fortunate one with an increased budget from $42.5 to $44 million.

Since the beginning of the fiscal year in June, there has been a 4 percent budget cut.

"We won't know figures for the Christmas season's sales tax until February," said Wayne Parker, Provo's chief administrative officer. "We will decide then if we will need to have another budget cut."

So far, legislators have found no reason to increase taxes in the Provo area, either. But a new budget will be drafted and presented in May. At that time, city officials may propose other tax increases and budget cuts.

Currently, several capitol projects, such as the expansion of Bicentennial Park and work to be completed on the Slate Canyon Trailhead, have been put on hold until the next fiscal year, Parker said.

A "soft" hiring freeze is currently in progress while city officials decide which positions could be cut or created to make the city run more efficiently. Although positions have not been cut, employees are not seeing pay increases, either. For the first time in years the city has not held employee evaluations to determine whether a cost of living increase is necessary.

While no changes are affecting the current budget, the city is protecting its assets where they can.

"The budget hasn't affected any programs," Parker said, "but we are trying to use extra caution with the funds that we have."



Copyright Brigham Young University 13 Jan 2009