City of Kalispell to get less revenue from EMS tax
During a budget workshop Monday night, members of the Kalispell City Council expressed dismay with a new revenue formula used by Flathead County Emergency Medical Services.
The board changed the way it distributes ambulance revenue to various entities within the county, City Manager Jane Howington said. The formula used to be weighted based on population, but now it’s more focused on call volume.
City Attorney Charlie Harball theorized that the board changed the formula because outlying ambulance services are responding to more calls — calls that used to be handled by the Kalispell Fire Department.
At issue is revenue from a two-mill property tax levy. Kalispell’s portion of the revenue goes into its ambulance fund.
The city budgeted $102,000 in the 2011 fiscal year, but that is projected to drop to $84,000 in the 2012 fiscal year due to the EMS revenue formula being changed. The city got $95,067 in ambulance revenue from the levy in fiscal year 2010.
Council member Tim Kluesner called the board’s decision to change its revenue-disbursal formula “changing rules in midstream. They’re pulling the rug out from underneath our feet.”
Mayor Tammi Fisher summarized the situation: “We [city taxpayers] pay based on population. What we get back is based on call volume.”
The council also discussed potentially moving the quasi-independent Parking Commission into a city-owned building. The commission currently leases an office at 4 First Street E. near Main Street for $8,100 a year, Kluesner said.
He noted the commission has some concern about the sustainability of its budget.
Harball noted that the Parking Commission is involved in litigation with its landlord. “The landlord wants to bump the rent up,” Harball said. “The Parking Commission feels they are in a contract.”
Harball said that moving the commission into a city-owned building may be a way to settle the lawsuit.
On a different topic, Harball said the council will consider divesting its 50-percent ownership in the Courtyard Apartments, 1842 Airport Rd., to Community Action Partnership at its June 20 council meeting.
“We entered into the project 15 years ago,” he said. The low-income rental housing consists of 32 units. The Community Action Partnership owns half, and also manages the complex.
Council member Duane Larson noted that the city will see an 8.3-percent reduction in its workers’ compensation insurance rates in the next fiscal year. Finance Director Amy Robertson said this represents a $20,000 savings.
Kluesner recommended that Howington put in the budget some examples of where the city is cutting revenue.
“Let the public know the things we have done on cutting government so they can feel good about the way government does business,” Council Member Jim Atkinson? said.
The council will conduct a work session on the proposed 9-cent transaction fee at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 27. It will not include public comment, but will be televised for informational purposes.