Taxpayers in Summit County will have an opportunity to speak out about a $45.9 million budget proposed for 2011.

A public hearing is scheduled at the County Courthouse in Coalville Dec. 22 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be the last budget hearing this year. Nobody from the public spoke during a budget hearing last Wednesday.

If the balanced budget is approved by the Summit County Council overall spending would drop next year by about 2.5 percent. But most property owners should not experience a tax increase.

“In general, people’s taxes will not increase,” Summit County Manager Bob Jasper said.

Among the spending cuts proposed in the County Courthouse is the elimination of eight full-time positions. Jasper recommended eliminating three positions from the Summit County Recorder’s Office. The County Attorney’s Office would lose a victim advocate and the Assessor’s Office would lose an appraiser.

Jasper has also recommended eliminating one building inspector position and two captain positions in the Sheriff’s Office.

County employees are also not slated to receive pay raises next year, county auditor Matt Leavitt explained.

“We didn’t budget for any cost-of-living or merit increases,” he said in a telephone interview Friday.

Health insurance for employees is paid for by the county. Those costs will increase in 2011. But employees won’t feel the pinch.

“The council figured that with the adjustments in health care that that was a big enough increase that the county was going to try to absorb,” Leavitt said.

But many county employees did not receive raises last year and Jasper said he is concerned that no pay hikes in 2011 might affect morale.

“At some point we have to be able to compensate our employees or we will lose them,” Jasper said.

Budget cuts are proposed in most county departments. However, budgets for public safety and public works would increase next year. The budget for public safety is expected to jump about $130,000.

“We ought to be able to maintain basic law enforcement services,” Jasper said in a telephone interview Friday.

The total budget for public safety is about $13.2 million.

The budget for the county’s public works department could increase $143,000 next year. The total budget for public works is about $8.8 million.

“We kept money in there to fix the roads and we’ve got all our snowplow drivers,” Leavitt said. “A big chunk of your services is going to be public safety and public works. Those areas increased.”

The information technology department, personnel, facilities and the library could also see budget increases. But budgets in other departments have dropped.

Spending plans for most of the county’s elected officials and the Community Development Department would drop about $382,000 if the proposed budget is approved.

“I was really proud of the elected and appointed department heads. Our biggest goal was to bring it to a spending level where we have a stable budget to grow from,” Jasper said.

Services could be impacted slightly, he said.

“There might be individuals who need help and we might not get to them as quickly as they want,” Jasper said.