2012 budget passes tight council vote

Whitefish City Council passed the

fiscal year 2012 budget 4-3 at their regular meeting Sept. 6.

Councilors Turner Askew, Chris Hyatt and Phil Mitchell were

opposed. Mayor Mike Jenson broke the 3-3 tie.

The $37.8 million budget includes a 1.3

percent cost-of-living pay raise and 2 percent step increase for

all city employees, including police, fire, public works and

non-union employees. The budget funds about 90 full-time

employees.

Total expenditures and transfers are up

4.1 percent compared to 2011. The increase is due to many factors,

including the city taking control of the library, pay raises and a

27th payroll.

The city mill levy, however, is the

same as last year except for transferring 5.4 library mills from

the county to the city portion of the tax bill, which has no impact

on tax payers. An increase in the property tax base valuation of

4.2 percent for this year helped keep property tax levies down.

Whitefish’s total market value is estimated to be $1.02 billion, up

more than $710,000 from last year.

Fire and ambulance services are still

costing the city more than they bring in. The city will use

existing cash if the services exceed the amount budgeted for 2012.

A rate increase is proposed for responses made outside of city

limits to help offset some costs. Those increases were not included

in the 2012 budget since the proposal has not been reviewed by

staff or council.

Public works staffing was reduced by

one position when the city installed automatic water meters. A

meter reader was laid off, putting the department at about 29 full

time equivalent employees. Public works accounts for 32 percent of

the city’s work force, the highest percentage of all

departments.

Councilor Turner Askew said progress

has been made with the budget, although he has some concerns,

including a $300,000 transfer from a stormwater assessment fund to

the general fund.

“That’s like paying off a loan with a

credit card,” Askew said at the meeting.

He doesn’t believe the 2012 budget is

balanced if borrowing money from the stormwater fund is necessary.

The reserve was originally created to help pay for a future

stormwater project on State Park Road.

“One day we are going to need that

money and we just used it for something else,” Askew said. “This is

not a balanced budget, in my opinion.”

Councilor Phil Mitchell said the pay

raises “don’t sit well” with him and he also noted the $300,000

transfer from the stormwater fund.

He went on to credit the three

councilors elected in 2009, including Mitchell, Hyatt and Bill

Kahle, for helping the current council get the budget “back on

track.”

“We’re not there yet, though,” Mitchell

said. “The economy is still fragile. I can’t approve this

budget.”

Jenson strongly disagreed, saying that

the three councilors elected in 2009 “didn’t single handily come

here and create a balanced budget.”

“We would have done that whether you

were here or not,” he said, noting that state law requires the city

to have a balanced budget.

“This budget isn’t that far out of

whack,” Jenson said. “I don’t have a doomsday attitude.”

Hyatt said the city has taken some

steps toward trimming the budget but that it needs to be

tighter.

Councilor John Muhlfeld credited the

council for their “due diligence” in shaping a balanced budget. He

noted the budget doesn’t include an increase in the property tax

mill levy and that Whitefish has one of the lowest mill levies in

the state among similarly sized cities.

Columbia Falls, Havre, Lewistown and

Livingston each have more than 200 property tax mills, compared to

Whitefish’s 120, according to a city report.