Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said Tuesday that when it comes to her 2025 budget proposal, she is “not going to bury the lede.”
Wilson said in her budget proposal that 2025 will be challenging to budget due to inflation and lagging tax revenue growth. However, the draft budget plans to balance increasing employee pay while expanding priority projects launched in previous years.
She noted the Human Services, Homelessness and Criminal Justice Action Plan as one of those priority projects.
“It’s a big title, with even bigger intentions of actually improving outcomes for individuals, communities and businesses and working with private, nonprofit and public partners,” Wilson said.
The action plan, which was launched in July, aims to create 1,000 affordable housing units within the next five years, Wilson said.
Public Safety Bond
One key part of the action plan is the Public Safety Bond, a ballot initiative Salt Lake County voters get to decide on this election.
The $507 million bond would merge the two county jails and create a new Justice and Accountability Center. This lower-security facility would expand mental health services, substance abuse treatment and other social services to low-level offenders. The bond would also build 250-300 housing units for inmates experiencing housing instability.
“The longer you’re in jail, the more resources you need when you get out, and so it’ll be a very resource-rich environment where people can get introduced or receive services that they’ll need that will help them be successful when they get out,” Chief Deputy Matt Dumont said.
Council Chair Laurie Stringham told The Daily Utah Chronicle that the reforms follow a “step-down approach” to helping people reintegrate into society.
“The bond that we’re asking for will allow us to build that step-down approach and help us get that recidivism number down,” she said. “And, [it will] help us not rule people out, but give them the support and services that will re-shape their lives.”
Stringham added that the Salt Lake County jail is the largest mental health facility in the state.
The reform action plan states that jails have become the “de facto system“ for serving people experiencing homelessness and suffering from mental health and substance use disorders. This is due to insufficient mental health treatment, social services and the lack of affordable housing.
Opioid Settlement Fund
The mayor’s proposed budget also allocates funds from the Opioid Settlement Fund to several health initiatives. This includes $400K for the University of Utah’s Intensive Outpatient clinic and $90K for the U’s Substance Use in Pregnancy Recovery Addiction Dependence Clinic (SUPeRAD).
While the draft budget aims to increase access to substance abuse treatment, Wilson said “treatment alone isn’t enough.” Therefore, her draft budget recommends continuing funding for Salt Lake County’s two officers from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration‘s Metro Narcotics Task Force.
“It became quite apparent that bolstering law enforcement was necessary to address the drug crisis, the fentanyl crisis taking place around the nation, and sadly, here in Salt Lake County,” Wilson said. “The fentanyl crisis does not discriminate. People of all ages and backgrounds are being directly and indirectly … impacted by this crisis.”
There were 290 fentanyl-involved overdose deaths in Utah in 2023. This is a 437% increase since 2019, according to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
Employee Pay
Regarding government employees, Wilson said the budget recommends up to a 3.5% pay increase for most government employees and 4.75% for sworn officers.
Employees with high-deductible health insurance plans will keep a zero premium. Still, they will see a deductible increase of $500 for individuals and $1000 for families. County employees with Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans will see their costs rise by 8%.
According to a survey by consulting firm WTW, U.S. employers’ healthcare costs rose 6.9% in 2024 and are also projected to increase by 7.7% in 2025. This would be a post-pandemic high.
“When health care costs rose rapidly this year, the county did every possible measure to make the increase as minimal as possible because we know how important the individuals are who deliver our services day in and day out,” Wilson said.
The mayor’s budget will need to be reviewed and approved by the County Council. It will be available for public review in late November, but the date for final approval has not been set.
