Columbia Falls OKs $7.6 million budget

The Columbia Falls City Council on Tuesday approved a $7.568 million budget.

On a house assessed at $200,000, a homeowner could see a tax increase of about $80 over last year.

But there’s a caveat: Because of a state reappraisal and the state changing the tax rate, many residential home appraisals actually went down, some by as much as 30 percent.

So the actual impact on homeowners could be much less, City Manager Susan Nicosia explained. Last year, a home assessed at $200,000 would have paid about $520 in city taxes. This year, a $200,000 house would pay just under $600 in city taxes.

The council opted not to apply the maximum property-tax mills allowed under state law, but trimmed off a little more than four mills, which resulted in $20,000 less revenue and a total increase of about 23 mills. The reduction in mills cut the tax bill on a $200,000 house by about $10.

The vote for the budget was 4-1, with Mayor Don Barnhart and City Council member Darin Fisher absent. Council member Julie Plevel voted against the cut in the mill levy. She noted the city could use that $20,000 this coming fiscal year since a developer has approached the city about building a hotel and convention center on the Norem property next to Pinewood Park.

If that project comes to fruition, the developer has asked the city for help in moving a sewer main that traverses the lot. Moving the line would cost about $80,000, Nicosia noted.

In addition, upgrading Second Avenue West would cost an additional $100,000. Attracting a major hotel to the city is a top priority for the council.

But other council members were worried about the tax increase on commercial property owners. Unlike residential homes, commercial property largely was reassessed higher than previous years by the state, so not only are properties worth more, they will pay a higher tax rate. Council member Dave Petersen, who owns commercial real estate in the city, said his assessment went up significantly.

The overall budget is actually about $111,000 less than last year. But the taxable valuation of the city dropped about 9.64 percent to $6.051 million, which was what it was assessed at in 2010-11.

The bulk of spending in the budget is in personnel costs. The city has about 31 full-time equivalent positions, which cost about $2.416 million annually. That accounts for 33 percent of budget appropriations.

This budget does add a foreman position to the Public Works Department.

Separately, the council passed a resolution setting salaries and benefits for key employees for the year. The chief of police was set at $65,198; Public Works director $61,831, fire chief $63,021, city treasurer $27.43 an hour, city clerk $24.52 an hour and city judge $47,053 for a .8 full-time-equivalent position.