Council passes 2016 budget

The Kalispell City Council passed its 2016 budget Monday night, granting spending authority for city departments and services.

It passed largely unchallenged by council members, who went through the budget in work sessions over recent months.

At more than $50 million, the budget was revised down from the preliminary draft that was approved in June.

The budget was passed by 10 separate resolutions. The main portion dealt with the annual appropriations measure, which approved most spending.

Two council members cast dissenting votes on the resolution for funding structure the 911 Dispatch Center.

“This is a major concern, so I guess this is my protest vote,”  council member Phil Guiffrida said.

Guiffrida and Mayor Mark Johnson voted against the measure that approved the city’s roughly $500,000 contribution to the dispatch center’s budget.

The center is funded through a countywide fund but also through individual cities. That’s seen by some as double taxation for those city residents who pay taxes in both jurisdictions.

Officials have said that the dispatch center can’t keep up with maintenance costs with the current structure.

“We knew when we built that center that this was a temporary way to fund it,” Johnson said.

A fee district has been proposed and is supported by Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls city governments. The county has yet to act on the measure.

The rest of the budget process on Monday came with suggestions. One was in the area of urban forestry. The city has operated without a staff forester for a few years. In the meantime, the city has used contract services to remove a number of dead elm trees in town.

The idea of hiring a staff forester was brought up.

“Not having an urban forester on staff, I believe, is starting to hurt Kalispell,” said Pam Carbonari, coordinator of the Kalispell Business Improvement District.

Elsewhere in the budget, assessments for street maintenance increased by about 7 percent from last year. The light maintenance assessment increased slightly as well after the city revised the fee structure.

Solid waste and storm sewer assessments remained flat from the previous year.

Those resolutions passed on unanimous votes.

Another suggestion came up toward the end of the budget process. Council member Tim Kluesner spoke about his wish for more local option taxes during discussions on the tourism business improvement district measure.

That budget item collects assessments from hotel stays in Kalispell and pays for expenditures aimed at attracting more tourism.

Kluesner wished for more latitude to pass other local option taxes, especially those aimed at visitors.

“We’re not able to tap that funding source of the tourists that come through here,” he said.

The authority would have to be come from the Montana Legislature.

The current budget and fiscal year run through June 2016.

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.