Kalispell maps out job cuts

At least six positions are on the chopping block as Kalispell's city government tries to balance its general fund budget.

The Kalispell City Council will discuss those cuts, plus possibly trimming more employees at its Monday workshop session, at which no votes are legally allowed.

In a memo to the council, City Manager Jim Patrick recommended that the following positions be eliminated:

. The parks department's receptionist, plus a recreation coordinator.

. The planning department's code enforcement officer.

. Two fire prevention specialists in the fire department.

. A municipal court clerk.

Patrick also recommended that the hours be cut for two planning department employees plus the police department's crime analyst.

A possible four to five more positions might be cut, he wrote.

All six eliminated positions were filled by union employees. The city employs roughly 200 people.

The man filling one fire-prevention specialist job has been transferred to an empty firefighter's slot, Acting Fire Chief Dan Diehl said.

Mike Nicholson, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local No. 256, said since the positions were eliminated - as opposed to workers being laid off - the people in those slots might be able to apply for other city jobs for which they are qualified, and could replace those job-holders if they have seniority.

Four of the six eliminated positions have been filled by AFSCME members. The firefighters' union represents the other two.

Nicholson said AFSCME is waiting until the entire job-cut situation unfolds before deciding how to respond to the cuts.

Seasonal recreational employees also will be trimmed, the memo said, and the city pool's hours will be reduced.

In his memo, Patrick wrote that the position cuts will significantly affect the city government's ability to provide some services. However, he added: "The overall effects should not be felt by the community for several years."

The job cuts are a result of the city's budget woes.

The city's overall budget is slightly more than $52 million, of which $41.882 million are locked into programs with specific revenue and expenses.

The wiggle room is in the general fund, whose predicted incomes and expenses have fluctuated between slightly more than $10 million to slightly more than $11 million during the past three months.

The general fund pays for firefighters, police officers and parks employees, plus some planning department, municipal court and city attorney's workers, as well as the council's salaries.

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

Property taxes, plus other revenues, provide the general fund's money.

The problem is that the general fund's proposed expenses have been bigger than the predicted revenue - and still are under the latest budget proposal. The only money left to bail out the general fund is the city's rapidly dwindling cash reserves.

The latest budget scenario trimmed $570,669 in expenses.

That leaves a $10.78 million proposed general fund with expenses still at about $167,000 more than revenue. That $167,000 shortfall is why the city government might look at additional job cuts.

The city staff has been reluctant to cut positions, and tried to convince the council to create a parks-and-maintenance tax that would have raised roughly $540,000.

Only one-third of the parks-and-recreation department budget is supported by the general fund. The proposed parks operations-and-maintenance tax would have removed that final third from the general fund.

Consequently, the general fund's expenses would have dropped by $540,000 while keeping the same revenue.

However, the council decided to put that tax to a public referendum in November. If passed, that parks operations-and-maintenance tax would not supply money to the city budget until the 2009-10 fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2009.

Meanwhile during the past several weeks, the council had been increasing pressure on the staff to eliminate some jobs to balance the general fund without dipping more in the cash reserves.