Commissioners OK $92 million budget

The Flathead County commissioners last week unanimously approved a $92 million budget and voted to continue a funding mechanism that sets aside about $1 million a year for construction of a new jail.

This year’s budget raises property taxes by 3.2 percent and increases the county’s workforce by 14 full-time employees.

Overall, the county budget is about $13 million less than last year because large building projects such as the South Campus Building and old jail facility have been completed.

A public hearing on Thursday drew little public comment.

Troy Dahl, a Columbia Falls Stage Road resident, said he opposes a cost-of-living raise for county employees and said the county instead should be looking at ways to cut costs.

“No one is giving us a handout for raises,” Dahl said. “At least at my house, I have X amount of dollars. If I can’t pay, something has to go.”

County employees are getting 2 percent cost-of-living raises. County Administrator Mike Pence said that’s less than the roughly 3 percent raises given to employees in the three incorporated cities.

Sandra Dahl said she and her husband live on fixed income and the increase in property taxes is a financial burden.

Taxpayers owning a home with a $200,000 market value can expect about a $10 increase in property taxes this year. The county will collect $36.5 million in property taxes, compared to $35.3 million during the last fiscal year.

In 2014 the commissioners voted to reclaim unused property-tax mills from past years and levy them in future years as a set-aside for a new jail. For several years during the recession, the commissioners had opted not to levy the full amount to soften the tax burden for county residents. It’s those mills that are being reclaimed over a seven-year period.

The extra 5.67 mills generated by this funding mechanism will bring in about $1 million this year for the future construction of a new jail and $350,000 for future construction of a county recreational gymnasium. It will cost the owner of a $200,000 home $15.31 for the current tax year.

By the end of the current fiscal year, the extra mill reclamation will have generated $3 million for the jail. The commissioners also opted last year to earmark another $3 million left over in the budget and roll it into the capital fund for a new jail, according to county Finance Director Sandy Carlson.

All totaled, the county will have $6 million set aside for the jail project by the end of June 2017.

There was discussion among the commissioners about the relatively large number of new hires planned for the county this year.

Six of the new employees will be involved in law enforcement and the justice system as the county embarks on a temporary jail expansion by converting the former County Attorney’s Office space into 36 extra jail beds.

The county will hire two new sheriff’s deputies, two new detention center officers and two more deputy county attorneys, at an annual cost of $427,000.

“Yes, it does bother me we have six more employees at nearly a half-million dollars, but you go out in the public and they’re saying we’re not doing enough with crime,” Commissioner Gary Krueger said. “I’m proud we did this. We’re going to be looking for people with warrants instead of saying there’s no room in the jail. We have to back our sheriff’s officers. It’s demoralizing to them when we can’t bring people in.”

Krueger said the fact that Flathead County already has set aside $5 million for a new jail “shows we’ve been thinking ahead.”

He also defended the cost-of-living raises, noting that county studies are done regularly to make sure the county is paying its employees wages that are comparable to the private sector.

Commissioner Pam Holmquist said she doesn’t agree with some of the full-time equivalent positions added to the county workforce this year, but still believes that “overall we have a good budget this year.

“We’re moving the county forward in a positive way,” she said.

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