Council approves $68 million budget

The Kalispell City Council on Monday approved an overall budget plan of more than $68 million for 2017.

The budget sets aside more than $350,000 for major projects in addition to traditional spending.

The budget includes roughly $218,000 to buy and improve a U.S. Forest Service building, a little over $25,000 to resurface the Kidsports complex parking lot and another $30,000 to buy body cameras for police officers.

Another budget item adds a middle-school police resource officer position for roughly $80,000, which will be partially funded by Kalispell Public Schools.

City Manager Doug Russell said the budget was designed to be tax-neutral for Kalispell homeowners.

Council member Jim Atkinson reminded the public only a portion of property taxes go to the city.

“The fact that we’re keeping that portion revenue-neutral does not mean that the other taxing entities will not raise your taxes and that your overall taxes won’t go up,” Atkinson said.

Council members Phil Guiffrida and Chad Graham voted against the budget.

Guiffrida said he felt he had to vote against the budget to draw attention to a historical conflict between the city and the administrative board for the Flathead 911 Emergency Communications Center.

“We expressed our concerns years ago, and still the issues have not been addressed,” Guiffrida said after the meeting. “In a lot of ways, this budget offered some hope, but this is an ongoing issue I feel like needs to change.”

In 2014, under the guidance of Mayor Tammi Fisher, the city of Kalispell sent the 911 Administrative Board a list of requests outlining issues with how the board operated, ranging from meeting times to budgets.

One primary concern was that the Flathead County budget is approved after the city budget. That means, if the county commissioners vote for a pay increase for their staff, it would cause a discrepancy with the 911 center because its employees are county employees. That could require more funding from the city and a budget amendment.

Graham said he had listened to Guiffrida talk about issues with the 911 board for at least three years. Graham said he also didn’t like the process of having the city’s budget “held hostage” to the decisions made by the 911 board.

“Every year I’ve thought, ‘Well maybe this is the year that something will happen to resolve that,’” Graham said. “I’m probably at the point this year where I’m probably going to jump on that bandwagon with Mr. Guiffrida.”

Council member Rod Kuntz said while he appreciated the stance of the dissenting council members, the city still needed a budget plan in place to function.

“I’m looking at this in a different way, I’m approaching this as, I refuse to be held hostage,” he said.

Kuntz said the council has to continue to do its job — work to build the city where there is growth and a tax base. He said the rest will fall in line.

“This is going to eventually get ironed out ... It’s like everything else with government entities, with multiple entities dealing with it, it’s just going to take longer,” Kuntz said.

Then, turning toward Guiffrida, he added, “If they’re not making progress next year, I may be there with you … and by next year, if they don’t make headway on it, the budget probably won’t be approved. ”

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.