County OKs $30.3M spending plan

A new gymnasium, land for a new library in Kalispell and construction of a new Bigfork library are among the big-ticket line items in Flathead County’s $30.3 million capital improvement plan over the next five years.

The commissioners last week unanimously approved the spending plan for fiscal years 2019 through 2023. The 500-page document is a planning tool that identifies the future timing of capital needs, estimated capital costs and sources of funding.

The plan shows that about one-quarter of all capital spending in the next five years will fall under the public works category, with more than $7.5 million proposed over five years. Replacement road graders — one new grader for each of the five years — will cost the county more than $1.1 million.

A replacement asphalt plant is penciled in at $492,000, and a future rural special improvement district is listed at $981,000 for fiscal year 2019.

The county’s enterprise fund, which includes the landfill, accounts for about $7.2 million in capital spending over five years. The biggest line-item in that category is the Phase 5 landfill expansion budgeted at $2.65 million for fiscal year 2021.

New garbage trucks are sizable investment, penciled in at nearly $1 million for three new trucks spread over three separate years.

Capital projects related to culture and recreation will total more than $6.9 million over five years. A recreational gymnasium that’s been in the planning phase for several years is budgeted for $3 million in 2020. A new ImagineIF library for Bigfork is slated at $1.5 million in 2020, and $1.5 million in 2021 is estimated for the land purchase needed for a new Kalispell ImagineIF library.

The plan also lists funding sources for each project. Transfers from operation funds account for roughly 30 percent of the revenue source, followed by 10.4 percent from general fund transfers. Cash balance operations and reserves account for another 31 percent of the revenue.

A capital item doesn’t have final approval unless it has been included in the overall fiscal year operational budget and adopted by the commissioners. That means only the capital projects included in this year’s fiscal year 2019 budget are fully funded so far.

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