Kalispell budget on chopping block

Staff jobs could be eliminated, interim city manager says

By JOHN STANG/Daily inter Lake

Several Kalispell city department heads will discuss next week how to cut 5.6 percent from their 2008-09 budgets.

These discussions are prompted by the citys general-fund revenues besing significantly lower than predicted.

Consequently, Interim City Manager Myrt Webb has requested that the heads of general-fund-financed departments look at their individual budget to identify how to trim them by 5.6 percent.

This is not an exercise. Were not doing it for fun. Were going to need to do something, Webb said.

The citys overall budget is slightly more than $52 million, of which $41.882 million are locked into programs with specific revenues and expenses.

The wiggle room is in the general fund with property taxes plus other revenues providing the money.

The general fund pays for firefighters, police officers and parks employees, plus some Planning Department, municipal court and city attorneys workers, as well as the councils salaries.

Actually, about 80 percent of the general fund goes to people costs.

That raises the likelihood of general-fund cuts translating to staff cuts.

Its certainly possible, Webb said, adding that no jobs have been targeted.

He expects to discuss the matter with the City Council at a Nov. 24 workshop session, at which no votes are legally allowed.

In September, the council adopted a $10.654 million general-fund budget after at least four months of slow, agonizing trimming.

The council avoided dipping into its cash reserves to balance the general fund. Kalispells cash reserves were roughly $473,000 in September. A rule of thumb is that a city of Kalispells size should have more than $1 million in cash reserves.

General-fund revenues appear on track to end up about $600,000 short of what was predicted, which has prompted next weeks budget meetings, Webb said.

City Finance Director Amy Robertson said one example is that the city expects to receive $100,000 in planning fees by now, but has collected only about $10,000.

Other wrinkles include:

. Kalispell voters recently rejected by a 59 percent-to-41 percent margin a proposed parks maintenance -and-operations tax, which would have removed roughly $540,000 from the general funds expenses each year and transferred that obligation to another fund supported solely by that tax.

Technically, this was an advisory vote, with the council keeping the option of overruling it. But the council has shown no indication it wants to revisit the matter.

. A large percentage of city employees who are paid through the general fund work under union contracts.

When union jobs were threatened during last summers general fund deliberations, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local No. 256 hinted it might legally contest the cuts, contending the jobs were protected under contracts.

Ultimately, the council eliminated five positions all union in September to balance the general-fund budget, with at least three of those people transferred to jobs in other departments.