Top Stories Salt Lake City

In what may turn out to be a last-ditch attempt, Salt Lake County Council Republicans found success on only one of three attempts Tuesday to increase fees on some county services.

GOP council members have been looking for areas where the county can find new revenues in hopes of offsetting a tax increase proposed by Mayor Peter Corroon.

Most proposals have met with resistance by the majority council Democrats, though a GOP plan to move county payroll services from the auditor to the mayor’s office — expected to garner some savings through structural efficiencies — found bipartisan support last week, as did a Tuesday proposal by Councilman David Wilde to increase some fees charged by the recorder’s office.

The council also briefly considered and dismissed making Corroon’s proposed $13.5 million debt-service shift — a move that ups countywide property tax by about $20 a year on a $260,000 home — a permanent rather than temporary change. As it stands, the tax bump will decrease over time as the debt decreases.

Deliberations of the county’s 2010 budget will continue after the holiday weekend. The council is considering a fiscal package that includes $142 million (about 18 percent) in reductions from last year. It must approve a final version by the end of the year.

— Arthur Raymond