Unlike several cities in Utah — and the state as a whole — Tooele will not be revising its city budget to balance against declining tax revenues.

Mayor Patrick Dunlavy said that’s because the city anticipated lower revenues when they made the initial budget, and because tax revenues have stayed relatively flat.

“We basically adopted a flat budget with no increases in taxes and maintaining the current level of services,” said Dunlavy. “The mayor and city council also agreed that they would not accept pay raises in this budget year.”

Sales tax revenues are collected by the state before being redistributed to the cities.

“So far the sales tax revenue the city has received from the state has been flat, or the same as last year,” Dunlavy said. “You have to remember that the income we receive is about two months behind. In other words, the money we are receiving today was generated in September. I anticipate we will see some months in the future that dip below last year.”

Dunlavy expects the city’s coffers to be enriched by the opening of Big 5 Sporting Goods, Sears, and Gold’s Gym.

When the budget was passed, the council and mayor agreed on a hiring freeze, and that as any position came open it would be seriously evaluated to see if it needed to be filled. Following those guidelines, the city has eliminated two part-time positions. One was a part-time receptionist at City Hall and the other was a permanent seasonal parks position.

“We did not lay anybody off,” Dunlavy said. “And we have no plans to lay anybody off this year. Our pledge to the people of Tooele is that we will maintain the present level of services.”

To save money, Dunlavy said the city bid out its health and accident benefits package for employees, and received a return bid that was 12 percent lower than the our original projection, resulting in a substantial savings to the city.

The mayor is also personally reviewing all requests from any department for out-of-state travel in an effort to cut costs.

“There are some training seminars that are held out of state that our people will need to attend,” Dunlavy said. “All together, I look at the request and make sure the benefit received by the city is worth the cost.”

The $44.7 million 2008-09 budget for Tooele City was approved in June 2008 by the city council. It called for the city to draw $1.5 million from its reserves to make ends meet due to declining revenues.

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com