Kalispell lowers property-tax rate

By JOHN STANG

City Council passed measure with 7-1 vote

The Daily Inter Lake

The owners of a $150,000 Kalispell house should see a $35 drop in their 2006-07 property tax bill under a budget that the City Council adopted Monday.

This owner would have paid $821 in property taxes on that home in 2005-06, and theoretically can expect a $786 bill for 2006-07.

That is assuming other factors that vary from house to house are not added to the calculations, including any re-appraisals that would increase a home's assessed valuation.

The $35 cut comes from an increase in Kalispell's total property values.

The council passed 7-1 a $55.053 million budget for fiscal 2006-07, which began July 1.

Council member Bob Hafferman voted against the budget because he opposed some individual allocations, including increasing the remodeling budget for a new City Hall at the old Wells Fargo building, money for expansion of the Hockaday Museum of Art, extend one water line, conduct some aerial mapping and a few other items. Mayor Pam Kennedy was absent Monday.

A July 17 hearing on the budget drew no public comments.

The city government's 2005-06 budget was $52.36 million.

The overall city budget is financed by a couple dozen revenue sources and mostly covers city obligations - such as sewage treatment and debt service.

The council has the most leeway in making potential changes with the $10.04 million in general-fund expenses. A major chunk of the general fund goes to salaries and wages.

Outside of the general fund, the council approved numerous small separate tax levies to pay for street lights, garbage removal, tree maintenance, maintaining streets and storm sewers, and to pay Kalispell's share of the City-County Health Department budget.

The only change from the 2005-06 levies is in the storm-sewer funds. Depending on where properties are located, the storm-sewer levies range from roughly a quarter-cent to roughly 1 cent for each square foot. Kalispell's rapid growth has been outstripping its storm sewers' capabilities to handle runoff in some areas.

The biggest storm sewer projects for 2006-07 include improving monitoring of groundwater for pollution, planning how to deal with future storm-water problems, improving drainage at the west end of Liberty Street, and planning drainage improvements in the neighborhoods next to Meridian Road upgrades.