The race that will determine who will lead Salt Lake County next year brought Democratic Mayor Jenny Wilson head to head against Republican challenger Erin Rider on Thursday night in Salt Lake City.
The two faced off in a livestreamed, hour-long debate co-produced by PBS Utah and KUER ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
Wilson, who is seeking a second full term, became Salt Lake County’s first female Democratic mayor in January 2019 after serving 10 years on the County Council. She replaced former Mayor Ben McAdams when he left the position to represent Utah’s 4th Congressional District. Wilson was elected in 2020 to a full four-year term.
In 2022, Rider, a Salt Lake City-based corporate attorney at Dorsey & Whitney, unsuccessfully ran against former U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart in a bid to capture the GOP nomination for the state’s 2nd Congressional District. If she is elected next month, she would become Salt Lake County’s first Republican mayor since 2005.
Here are the key takeaways from the debate:
County spending
Rider criticized Wilson as an “expensive mayor to keep,” citing, among other things, the mayor’s proposed $500 million criminal justice bond, which will appear on general election ballots.
The initiative calls for the closure of the Oxbow Jail and the expansion of the Salt Lake County jail, while investing $100 million into a planned Justice and Accountability Center for low-level offenders.
Rider added that despite Salt Lake County’s $2 billion budget, county buildings like Abravanel Hall, the Oxbow Jail and the County Government Center have not received enough maintenance funding, making them cheaper to replace than repair.
“We’re talking about deferred maintenance, deferred investment that the county’s known about for years,” Rider said. “We can’t keep playing this game. … There’s nothing innovative about just another tax increase.”
Wilson argued that although the county does have a budget of $2 billion, most of those funds are already committed and out of her control. The half-billion-dollar bond, she contends, would save residents money in the long run.
“My opponent doesn’t understand the county budgeting process,” Wilson said. “We do invest every year, in millions of dollars, in deferred maintenance. We are a responsible government, but just like sooner or later, you have to remodel a home, we are at that point, unfortunately, with our jail.”
Homelessness
(Jeffrey D. Allred | Pool) Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson speaks during the Salt Lake County mayoral debate at the University of Utah’s Eccles Broadcast Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.
Both candidates agreed homelessness is a top priority for the county. Wilson touted her five-year plan to address the issue, which includes building over 1,000 new housing units and investing in additional drug enforcement officers.
The proposal has garnered bipartisan support from Gov. Spencer Cox and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Wilson added.
“We are indeed excited about the five years ahead, the investment we will make, " Wilson said. “This plan affects not just the challenge around homelessness, but the opportunity to build more housing and to reform the criminal justice system, and to invest in Drug Enforcement Agency [Administration] officers. That is necessary to make sure the cartels stop dealing in this community.”
Rider criticized Wilson’s record on homelessness, adding that there are simpler solutions to the issue that won’t exhaust taxpayer pockets — like removing barriers to employment for those who may not have an ID or physical address.
“This problem has not gotten better,” Rider said. “And that should tell you everything you need to know.”
Affordable housing
More than half of Salt Lake County’s residents can’t afford median-priced homes, according to a 2021 analysis from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. Since then, housing prices have increased, and the county’s rental market has gotten more competitive.
Wilson thinks about the housing market all the time, especially as a parent to a 22-year-old son, she said. She pointed to the county’s plan to build 1,000 deeply affordable units over the next five years, and a recent investment in 17 housing projects throughout the valley.
“I know that it’s a reach, it’s a reach for so many families,” Wilson said. “Supply, supply, supply and policies — every session we are up advocating at the Utah State Legislature, who really has the trigger on policies … to make some change here. We’re advocates for regional planning that brings about the housing supply necessary to change the equation.”
(Jeffrey D. Allred | Pool) Salt Lake County mayoral challenger Erin Rider speaks during the Salt Lake County mayoral debate at the University of Utah’s Eccles Broadcast Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.
Rider touted a 10-year housing plan she hopes to have implemented by the 2034 Olympics if she’s elected. That plan, she said, aims to put homebuyers “on par” with corporate buyers that residents aren’t able to compete with, and open the doors to different types of housing like condos, town houses and small single-family homes.
“To me,” she said, “affordable housing means first-time homebuyers being able to get into the ownership market.”
Rider added: “We need to make sure that we have housing opportunities for people in the valley who are not able to necessarily get the kind of job that will enable them to pay for a house long term, and that is where you’re looking at potentially subsidized housing and some of these other opportunities to make sure they also have a place to live.”
