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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's most populated county has endured an extremely difficult financial year, but on Tuesday Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon was full of optimism.
It has been brutal for Salt Lake County financially: cuts, tax increases and more to come. But Mayor Corroon -- a possible candidate for governor this year -- says there is a sunny side to all this.
He gave his State of the County Address to a room full of county employees. He said, "Make no mistake, 2009 was a very difficult year, possibly the most challenging experienced in any of our lifetimes."
He also told them 2010 would be better. "We are going to implement the lessons learned from 2009," he said, "and build on our model of smaller, more flexible county government."
Corroon said people were shopping again and breaking ground on projects too. But realistically, 2010 will be another tough year: more cuts may be coming; as much as $10 million worth.
"There's still hard work to be done. It's not over yet," he said. "But the economy's improving, so it will be easier to balance the budget." [CLICK HERE to read Mayor Corroon's entire State of the County speech]
But Corroon -- a possible candidate for governor against Gov. Gary Herbert this year -- was also prepared with a list of accomplishments: efficient government, public safety, economic development and conservation initiatives. He said those have been and will be priorities. There also seems to be bi-partisan support for the goals Corroon has set out and the decisions that were made.
District Attorney Lohra Miller is one of the Republicans involved in dealing with the $142 million shortfall. She said, "The way that we came to a budget compromise of lowering the salaries, raising the taxes and decreasing the spending was the only way we were able to make it through."
"I feel good about our prospects," said Salt Lake County Council Member Randy Horiuchi. "We've learned how to govern with less, and we're going to do even better this year."
The county has made it through in good shape, and lots of people seem relieved.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
