Kalispell begins budget crunching

The proposed 2009-10 Kalispell city budget is a bit smaller than the 2008-09 version.

But it has some extra cushion that you'd need a microscope to see.

The Kalispell City Council began working on the proposed budget Thursday at a workshop session.

Workshop budget sessions are expected to run each Thursday for the next few weeks.

The council is supposed to nail down as much of the budget as possible by July 1, which is when fiscal 2009-10 begins. However, the final figures probably won't be available until August, when the state will release property assessments and other revenue-related figures.

Consequently, the general fund numbers will be preliminary until then.

Overall, the proposed overall city budget for 2009-10 is about $45.8 million, compared to $53 million in fiscal 2008-09, which ends June 30.

The big drop is mostly due to the city finishing a major expansion of its sewage treatment plant earlier this year.

The overall budget does not call for layoffs among the roughly 190 city employees. However, empty job slots might not be filled.

Most of the city's budget is locked in with expenses matching revenues.

The only real wiggle room is in the general fund, which pays for much of the everyday operations and administration of the city.

About 80 percent of the general fund pays for firefighters, police officers, plus some planning department, municipal court, administration and city attorney's workers, as well as the council's salaries.

Right now, both the fire and police department are staffed below their authorized strengths.

However, Interim City Manager Myrt Webb said those departments will not be allowed to hire people until the final budgets are set for those departments -and those department won't be allowed to break those final dollar limits regardless of how understaffed they are.

One wrinkle is that the city might have a new city manager on board by the end of summer (interviews with manager candidates are scheduled Wednesday).

The general fund is roughly 20 percent of the overall budget.

There is a major change in the general fund's make-up.

The council recently removed the parks and recreation department from the fund. Consequently, the parks department has to live with its own revenue and a limited amount of property tax income.

A big portion of the general fund is fed by property taxes. However, the tax rate for fiscal 2009-10 cannot be calculated until state figures arrive in August, said City Finance Director Amy Robertson.

Here is how the preliminary numbers for the 2009-10 general fund appear at this time:

n The 2009-10 predicted revenue is $9.105 million, compared to $9.939 million for 2008-09.

n Expenses for 2009-10 are predicted to be $9.1 million, compared to $10.267 million for fiscal 2008-09. But the current fiscal year's figures include the parks department, while the upcoming year's numbers do not.

n The 2009-10 predicted cash reserves are $141,281, compared to the current fiscal year's predicted reserves of $136,547. That translates to the new year's reserves being 1.55 percent of the general fund, compared to the current year's reserves of 1.33 percent. Ideally, that figure should be 15 percent.

n This will be the first time that the parks and recreation budget will exist independently from the general fund. Its preliminary budget for 2009-10 is $1.315 million.