Facing a money crunch in fiscal 2009, Provo Mayor Lewis Billings revealed a tentative $147 million city budget Tuesday that includes higher fees, scalebacks to city employee benefits, and modest increases to law enforcement and public park development.

Billings did not specify which fees would rise or by how much. The city did not make copies of the budget available to the public or the media until today. But, Billings said, special measures were taken to ensure that no taxes were raised.

"When it comes to a changing economy, we're not the only ones that are feeling an economic pinch," he said.

The Municipal Council will consider the tentative budget at its May 20 meeting.

One of the biggest proposals addresses the hot-button issue of parity -- the policy of equalizing retirement benefits for city employees across all departments. It grew to prominence over the winter when the Municipal Council voted to pay more toward police retirements to help subsidize their more expensive retirement plans. Police officers pay more because their term of service is only 20 years, as opposed to 30 years for other city employees. Parity dictated that the city increased contributions to other employees' retirements accordingly, often depositing excess funds into private 401(k) accounts -- a practice the city can't sustain under such tight financial constraints, Billings said.

"We realized we were left with no other choice than to find some ways to reduce some of our expenses," he said.

The new budget allows instead for what Billings calls "comparity." Retirement benefits would be looked at relative to market standards and set independently within each of the city's three employee groups -- police, fire and municipal -- to keep competitive with other agencies under the proposal.

Employees are also being asked to foot part of the bill for their health care for the first time. Under the new budget, employees would pay $30 per person or $60 per family each month for health insurance. That historically has not been the case, said city spokeswoman Helen Anderson.

"In the past, city employees did not have to pay any premiums for health insurance," she said.

City employees could also feel the financial impact in other ways. There's no room in the proposed budget for cost-of-living allowances, and some regular pay hikes for early step and grade increases have been halved. Bonuses will also be harder to come by, Billings said.

"We don't want to set unrealistic expectations," he said. "It's going to be very difficult to create the kinds of bonuses we have in the past."

Provo City Employees Association President Skip Tandy did not return a call for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Tight funds also mean there won't be any increase in the number of police officers on the street, Billings said. Instead, he said he hopes the more competitive retirement benefits will naturally raise the quality of law enforcement in the city. The city will offer money to continue the police department's Victims Assistance Program, which had previously been funded by grants that have "dried up," Billings said.

Additionally, the fire department will receive funding to join a "graffiti response triad." Provo police and representatives of the 4th Judicial Court's Teens Against Graffiti program have already been responding to graffiti problems in the area, but an increase in activity lately calls for extra help, Billings said.

"One of the fastest-growing crimes in our city is graffiti," he said.

Fire Chief Blair Camp said he isn't sure what the department's role will be in graffiti enforcement and cleanup yet, but it will probably include responding to specific incidents in "high-profile areas."

Part of the $23.5 million in capital improvement funds will go to developing public parks. A new park near Lakeview Elementary School in West Provo was announced, and funding has been set aside for an access road into Slate Canyon Trailhead Park. Billings said that although no money is available to further develop the Provo Bicentennial Park, a resource plan will be implemented to "do something substantial" in the upcoming year.

Other major allocations include funding for a beautification project on Center Street and seismic upgrades for the north wing of City Hall -- which Billings said was not up to today's "minimum standards" when it was constructed.

Billings said rising costs in fuel and health care have forced city planners to look for places to cut costs. The city's spending on gas has quadrupled since 2000 to $1 million last year, and health-care costs have jumped from $3 million to $7.5 million in the same period, he said.

"We're experiencing all the benefits that come with growth, but also all the challenges," he said.

Compounding the problem is dwindling revenue from traditionally strong sources, Billings said. During the beginning of the year, the number of new building permits fell 30 percent from the same time last year.