Priorities
County Tax Base
Consolidation of Services
Raise Taxes?
Open Space
Legacy Highway, Transit Tax
Fluoridation

Priorities

Bruce Lindsay (host): What would be your first two or three priorities as the first Salt Lake County Mayor? There are certainly a lot of issues to tackle.

Karen Crompton (D): Well, I'm not sure that people get really excited about this concept in general, but the greatest challenge facing the mayor and council is going to be to balance our budget. We must live within our means.

The county has gone away from five year balanced budgets now, to where this year for the first time the commissioners have had to dip into the reserve fund to balance the budget for this year. We must learn to manage our planned investments within a balanced budget, not only in the current year, but throughout the duration of the plan.

We also need to find ways to get more revenue in the county, and that comes through a strong economic development program. We can do more to encourage local and neighborhood businesses. We can attract new business.

And certainly in the area of hospitality and tourism, we have an unparalleled opportunity with the Olympics coming here to market this community. And the great thing about tourism is people come here, spend money, and go home. We don't need to build roads, we don't need to build schools, and the associated infrastructure costs.

So that is probably our greatest challenge. Also, establishing that working relationship that will set the precedent for all future administrations will be crucial in this first administration.

Nancy Workman (R): To me the most important thing is the proven leadership experience. We have nine part-time council people that will be coming in to this new form of government. They have to work with a mayor, and in setting up a new form of government that will serve us for decades to come. I'm concerned about the balance of it, how it will function, and how it will serve the citizens forever.

We also work with 15 mayors in this valley. And so it's bringing all these elected officials together. I'm familiar, know the mayors, been working with them. And also we have eight other elected officials we have to work with. So it's complex, convoluted, and the balance and how it moves forward-- will it be smooth, will it serve the citizens when we're done?

So it's the growth that we have to deal with in this valley, that the fact that we're having children-- I'm a mother of six, 23 grandchildren-- so I've contributed to this growth factor. But we have huge growth in this valley.

What is this valley going to look like in ten years? What is the quality of our air and the opportunities for jobs, and the opportunities for recreation and culture and all those things that enrich our life? What will this valley be and what is the vision that we have for this valley?

County Tax Base

Lindsay: Unincorporated Salt Lake County lost much of its choicest retail locations to annexations, to incorporations. A lot of the tax base is gone and that adds to some of the budget problems we've already mentioned. How will you resolve that problem? That's a tough problem.

Workman: Well, it is a tough problem. You don't want to raise taxes. You want to make the county more efficient, so you have to do that. But we need to bring businesses or encourage them to locate in the unincorporated area so we can rebuild that. As mayor of the county, I'm also mayor of the unincorporated areas.

Lindsay: You would provide the municipal services to the people who are still without a city?

Workman: Correct. I also would encourage businesses to locate in the unincorporated area to alleviate the possibility of raising taxes.

Lindsay: But then can't those unincorporated areas quickly be.. your tax base would be gobbled up by another annexation.

Workman: Well, it could happen, but you still have to go that way. You still have to try and build a tax base up in the unincorporated area and move in that direction even though that could be a possibility.

Lindsay: (to Crompton) How would you address that, because there's been a great loss of revenue for county coffers?

Crompton: Well, annexations and incorporations have clearly put a strain on the county budget in total. And as both of us have talked about, economic development is one aspect of that.

Consolidation of Services

But as the cost of providing municipal services increases for both the county and cities, it's time to start looking at some functional consolidation of service that makes sense. For example, fire. The county has just recently approved the creation of a fire service district that may serve as a model for other kinds of consolidations.

Lindsay: That means that we'd have one fire...

Crompton: Only in the part that's been approved so far. But what we need to do is bring the issue to the table and say 'What makes the most sense in terms of how we deliver this service? What provides the highest level of safety for citizens and for public safety people, and are there associated costs or savings with it?'

I think everyone needs to start talking about it. That issue comes up wherever I've been out in the county talking, whether it's the unincorporated county, the cities. It just makes sense to the people.

Lindsay: Would you advocate greater consolidation of services, beginning with fire?

Crompton: Absolutely. But I think we need to look at some numbers. The arguments usually tend to be very emotional without any figures ever really being brought, or plans about how you would get there. So it's something that we need to look at, and the mayor could be the voice for bringing that to the table.

Lindsay: So if the numbers make sense, would you move on to police protection? Would you move on to sanitation or parks and recreation or public works? I mean, are all those things on the table as far as you're concerned?

Crompton: They could all be on the table. The issues are a little different for each of them.

I think around law enforcement versus fire protection there may be some different concerns about local control. But I think those could be addressed by providing city commission input.

Garbage-- I don't think cities become cities because they want to start up garbage collection per say, in fact most of them have turned around to contract back with the county. We do deliver good services. But I think department by department we can look at some of those kinds of things.

Lindsay: (to Workman) What's your position on consolidation of services?

Workman: Well, I think that's a part of the problem, is we need to understand where the mayors are coming from. The mayors want to have control over what's going on in their cities. They like their own police department. People want to be able to know their police chief. So the consolidation I am not supporting.

I like this new fire district, and that enables our fire department at the county to solidify its purchasing base and have a plan. But when it comes to police, when it comes to garbage collection, those mayors like to have control over services that their citizens receive. They're on the front line.

I've visited with these mayors. They care about what is going on, and that's part of why they become cities. And so I am here to facilitate them, or to help them in any way I can, not to take over whatever services they're doing.

If they want to contract, as some of them do, with the county, great. Then we'd provide the best possible service. But I'm not there to overpower the mayors. I'm there to work with them and facilitate them in any way possible.

Raise Taxes?

Lindsay: You said you don't want to raise taxes. Are you saying you would not raise taxes?

Workman: I am against raising taxes. I would not raise taxes.

Lindsay: Is that a campaign pledge?

Workman: That is not quite 'Read my lips,' because the council is over the budget. But I have the opportunity to propose a budget and it is my goal not to raise taxes, absolutely.

Lindsay: Would you raise taxes, Karen Crompton, if that's the only alternative?

Crompton: I think it's everyone's goal to never raise taxes. But we may not have a choice in doing that because the current commissioners may grant some tax relief to a very large corporate taxpayer-- right now a property taxpayer, that will affect our first budget.

Right now the county attorneys office, the county assessors office has told the commissioners 'Don't settle this, let it go to court. We can defend it.' The school board is very concerned about it.

But if we're suddenly faced with a seven to eight million dollar loss of property tax revenue, that's a huge hit on our budget. So it may not be because we've increased any services, that we are faced with something not of our making.

Open Space

Lindsay: The valley, meaning the county, is filling up. Fields are becoming subdivisions every year. What is your position on open space?

Crompton: There are certainly things the county can do. Certainly we'd like the state to take a more active leadership role.

But we can go in and review and revise our planning and zoning ordinances to be certain they do support our goals for smart growth. We can require all new subdivisions have requirements for open space, and maintain access to public lands and public trails.

But most of all, the crown jewels of our open space, the canyons, need to be looked at. It's time to create a special task force to look at the issues around the canyons, particularly with some of the issues that have come up around wall to wall cities. How should the canyons be managed? How should those services be provided for? And who will pay for them? So, to develop a long term plan for what our canyons will be is probably our greatest goal.

Certainly in the southwest quadrant of the county we have opportunities for growth out there. And that would be an opportunity to look at some options for planning more along the lines that Envision Utah's talked about with higher densities, integrate recreational, agricultural, community. It's a great opportunity out there that we can plan.

Lindsay: Nancy Workman, what's your vision for open space?

Workman: Well, I take a little different position. I'm more of a property rights advocate. When people own the property they should be able to develop the way they want.

But the way that we can encourage this, is it is cost effective for developers to do what Envision Utah says, where you do a little cluster housing that keeps all the services in a tight area. Make other areas open for green space.

We do need to protect the canyons. We need to keep those jewels open for our citizens. But there are also multi-use areas, where people who have different interests can use it. We have skiiers and hikers and bikers that need to use these canyons also. So we shouldn't close them off to people while we're trying to preserve them for posterity.

Legacy Highway, Transit Tax

Lindsay: People need to get around. What's your position on Legacy Highway through the west part of the county?

Workman: Well, I support the Legacy Highway down the road a ways when they.. not too happy with where they've aligned it right now. But I support mass transit. We need to do.. what I think we need to concentrate on is the east-west routes.

Lindsay: Supporting the transit tax?

Workman: No, I don't support the transit tax. At this point in time I'm not convinced that's the way to fund it. But I do support Trax.

But I think we need to spend money, instead of more money on I-15, we need to widen some roads and get some traffic going east to west so they can get to I-15, so they'll be able to get to Legacy Highway, so they can get to Bangerter. They can't travel east and west right now.

Lindsay: Yes on Legacy, but no on transit tax?

Workman: Right.

Lindsay: Karen Crompton, what about those two issues?

Crompton: Well I have real concerns about the proposed alignment of the Legacy Highway because it does have a serious impact on property owners. As a first step I think we need to look at widening 5600 West and making that more user friendly to people.

But we also need to support more mass transportation. We need to expand Trax into the southern part of our county, the western part of our county. We need to increase bus service, expand it into Sunday. And that's what this transit tax will do.

Lindsay: So you favor transit tax?

Crompton: I absolutely favor it because we have to bring some money to the table to get those federal funds. It's not just there waiting for us, or we'd have already gotten it. This is an opportunity for us to get a significant amount of money to complete light rail and also develop commuter rail.

Lindsay: You don't favor Legacy Highway?

Crompton: Not the current proposed alignment, no.

Fluoridation

Lindsay: Not that either of you will decide this, but what is your position on fluoridation?

Crompton: I believe it's appropriate to be on the ballot. I've worked with Utahns For Better Dental Health to get enough signatures on petitions so that the voters of Salt Lake County can decide this issue. And I will be voting for it.

Lindsay: (to Workman) Fluoridation?

Workman: I think it's appropriate, and it's where it belongs in the vote of the people. It's like the transit tax. I support that it be on the ballot and the people say.

But the fluoridation is a question. Whether it's.. there's been articles come out in the Tribune whether it really has the benefits that people say.

But the thing is that whenever you do a new program.. as mayor, before I support a new program, I want to know what the cost is. This is a blank check for the water districts to raise their fees. We need to know what things cost before we support them. And any new program that I go for will have to have that determination first. So I'm not voting for fluoride.

Karen Crompton's Web Site
Nancy Workman's Web Site