County taxes go down slightly in final budget

Flathead County’s final budget for the coming year adds seven employees to the payroll and gives most workers a 2.5 percent cost-of-living raise.

More importantly to taxpayers, property taxes will go down slightly. A 0.9 percent tax decrease means the owner of a home valued at $200,000 will pay about $30 less in county property taxes.

The county commissioners likely will vote on the budget following a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The commissioners are obligated by state law to pass a final budget by Sept. 5.

The $75.2 million budget projects a 25 percent cash reserve of $11.7 million at the end of the fiscal year in mid-2013. Counties are allowed to retain up to 33 percent in reserves.

In his budget message, County Administrator Mike Pence said the county’s cash balance is due to ongoing efforts over the past seven and a half years.

“Our largest source of revenue comes from property taxes that are collected two months out of the year, so we need adequate balances for our operations,” Pence said. “It continues to be a challenge to maintain healthy balances with ongoing slow growth ... the cash reserve is there for a reason, to be able to operate during low times or for emergencies.”

Pence acknowledged that the budget’s impact to taxpayers is “probably the most important part of this budget message.”

The total market value for the county increased from $8.77 billion to $9.32 billion, according to newly certified valuations by the state Department of Revenue. The new taxable value of $244.1 million is 2.2 percent higher than last year’s $238.9 million valuation.

Because the county’s taxable valuation grew, the county is levying 1.38 fewer mills, which equates to a 0.9 percent decrease in the county’s total mill levy. The bottom line is lower taxes for county residents, ranging to a $15 annual savings on a $100,000 home, and $60 savings on a $400,000 home.

Pence noted the decrease is applicable only to the county’s portion of the tax bill and is separate from school and city taxes.

The increase in the number of county workers from 515 to 522 full-time employees is a significant piece of this year’s budget.

The county is adding a full-time position in the Clerk of Court office due to the workload increase with a fourth district judge. The fairgrounds also will get an additional full-time worker and two half-time detention officers have already been hired at the jail.

The Planning and Zoning Office will get a new half-time employee to help with code enforcement and permit tracking, and the records department also will get a half-time employee.

Other staff additions are configured in various ways. The Sheriff’s Office is getting a 0.6 full-time equivalent to pay for six part-time posse positions at 0.1 FTE each. While the posse is a volunteer group, the county budgets a small amount for special incidents such as manning road blocks during busy fire seasons.

The county library has been allocated a 0.9 FTE for adjustments to several positions where job descriptions are changing. The county animal shelter will get a 0.4 FTE, but that’s being offset by a reduction in contracted services, Pence said.

Eagle Transit, a bus service that operates under the auspices of the county Agency on Aging, has been allocated the equivalent of 1.5 more staff people.

In addition to the 2.5 percent cost-of-living raise, this year’s budget will fund longevity and step increases provided by county policies and union contracts, either 1 percent for public safety employees as required by state law, or 0.5 percent for all other county employees after five years of employment, per county policy.

 The county has budgeted about $3.3 million for capital improvements, with public works projects getting close to $1 million.

One other item of interest in the budget is a $990,000 line item in the general fund to make the final payment on the North Shore land development settlement.

A lawsuit settlement over the North Shore Ranch project required the county to pay $1 million plus the costs of developing future roads within the proposed lakeshore subdivision on Flathead Lake.

Instead of paying for the roads, the county negotiated a cash settlement of more than $2 million with the developers, bringing the county’s total payout to about $3.2 million.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.