Kalispell council budget showdown tonight

The Daily Inter Lake

Today, the Kalispell City Council has to pick a path to fix its 2008-'09 budget woes.

Create a parks operations-and-maintenance tax?

Put that proposed tax to the voters in November? If so, what should be done for the one-year delay in installing that tax (assuming November's voters would approve it)?

Or say nay to the proposed tax, and slash a few hundred thousand dollars from the city's proposed general-fund expenses?

If the general fund is cut, that likely means some city employees will lose their jobs.

No clear council majority has emerged on any choice.

Tonight's council decisions on the parks operations-and-maintenance tax will affect whether the council adopts the overall 2008-'09 budget today, or delays action on parts until a later date.

Right now, the draft overall city budget for 2008-'09 - which began July 1 - stands at $52.645 million.

Most of that proposed budget is locked in, with specific revenue sources paying for specific expenses.

The wiggle room is in the general fund, which pays for much of the city's salaries, planning and administration. City property taxes, as well as other revenues, go to the general fund.

The general-fund's predicted income is $10.606 million, which is $217,000 less than the year's predicted $10.823 million in general-fund expenses.

Those figures would leave $459,206 in the city's cash reserves - a significantly lower figure than the council and staff think is desirable.

The city staff prefers to create a parks-maintenance district, which is essentially a parks operations-and-maintenance tax.

The purpose of this proposed tax is to create a reliable income source to take care of Kalispell's parks without competing with other city departments for the general-fund money.

The money can be used only for routine operations and repairs, not for capital or major projects.

The proposed tax is a dollar amount reached by multiplying the square footage of a lot by 0.0055.

That translates to $38.50 a year for a 7,000-square-foot lot, or $22 a year for a 4,000-square-foot lot.

No home would be required to pay more than $150 a year, and no commercial lot would be required to pay more than $500 a year, according to the proposal.

The proposed parks tax is expected to raise roughly $540,000 in fiscal 2008-'09.

The Kalispell Parks and Recreation Department has a $1.647 million proposed budget for 2008-'09. The department takes care of parks, the swimming pool, athletic complexes, sports programs and youth camps.

The actual care of parks is estimated to cost $567,570 for fiscal 2008-'09 - most of which comes from the general fund.

The remaining $1.08 million is paid by revenues generated by individual programs, plus sources other than the general fund.

Almost all of the operations-and-maintenance money for the parks comes from the general fund. The biggest exception is the $15,000-$20,000 received annually from groups renting shelters and parks for big events.

Significant vocal and e-mailed opposition to the proposed tax has surfaced in the past few weeks.

However, city officials point to a 2006 survey of Kalispell residents on how to pay for the parks.

The survey results indicated:

. 43.2 percent supported the idea of a parks-maintenance district; 22 percent opposed it; and 34.7 percent did not know.

. 25.6 percent said they would support a parks-related tax with no conditions attached, while 55 percent would support such a tax under certain conditions.

. Of the 80-percent group that would support a parks tax, 83 percent said they would support a tax of as much as $25 annually, and 63 percent would support as much as $50 annually.

Also at 7 p.m. today, the council is scheduled to:

. Vote on all the city's specialized levies for 2008-'09.

Three rate increases are proposed. The storm-sewer assessment would increase 11.5 percent; pavement-replacement assessments would increase 10 percent; and garbage pick-up fees would increase $6 annually to cover fuel costs and recycling.

. Vote on whether to annex several small pieces of property surrounded by Kalispell. This is essentially a housekeeping measure on some tiny unincorporated lots within Kalispell's borders.

. Confirm Tyler Reed as a permanent police officer after completing his one-year probationary period.