Whitefish council to vote on final budget

The Whitefish City Council is scheduled to vote Monday on the final version of its operating budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which ends next June 30.

The budget would have the city take in about $37.5 million in revenue, 28.3% less than the $52.3 million it collected in fiscal 2021. Most of that decrease is attributed to a reduction in loan proceeds that were used to finance upgrades to the city's wastewater treatment plant.

The total budget for fiscal 2022 will be close to $49.9 million, which includes about $42.5 million in expenditures and about $7.4 million interfund transfers. Compared to the prior fiscal year, expenditures will decrease about 27.7% and interfund transfers will decrease about 9.1%.

The smaller budget is largely due to a decrease in capital expenditures and the city no longer having to service debt from tax increment bonds that was paid in full at the start of fiscal 2021.

The increase in transfers is mostly due to increased property tax relief provided by higher resort tax collections in fiscal 2021 than anticipated. (The city rebates one-quarter of its resort tax revenue in the form of property tax credits to property owners within city limits.)

The budget includes items for all kinds of city services, from the police, fire and building departments to the city library and parks, as well as ways the city will implement its Climate Action Plan and how it will spend federal coronavirus relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act that Congress passed in March.

The council approved a draft of the budget in June and has since taken up amendments.

The meeting will begin at 7:10 p.m. Monday at City Hall and the public may attend in person. Instructions for tuning in remotely via Webex video conferencing, as well as the council's full meeting agenda, can be found on the city website.

Assistant editor Chad Sokol may be reached at 406-758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com.