County budget calls for a small tax increase

The Flathead County Commissioners approved the county’s final 2015 fiscal year budget on Aug. 28 by a 2-1 vote, with commissioners Gary Krueger and Cal Scott voting for and commissioner Pam Holmquist voting against.

“This year’s budget is not our standard ‘status quo’ operational and capital budget,” Flathead County administrator Mike Pence had told the commissioners in his Aug. 22 budget message and recommendation.

While the $102.3 million final budget is 26 percent more than last year, much of it includes fund transfers and a new funding mechanism to set money aside for a future jail expansion.

County taxpayers will see a small tax increase this year. The proposed tax levy is 151.64 mills, about 2.5 percent higher, Pence said. The impact to the owner of a home with a market value of $200,000 will be about $9.58 more.

The total market value for Flathead County increased from $9.93 billion last year to $10.46 billion with the certification of new valuation numbers by the Montana Department of Revenue, and the value of a countywide mill increased to $246,736.

The final budget adds 15 full-time-equivalent employees, pushing the current work force to 540. Human Resources will get one more worker, the Sheriff’s Office will gain a special deputy, and the Planning Department will get one staff position to help handle the former Whitefish planning and zoning doughnut. The latter will be paid mostly with planning fees.

Funding for four additional employees to staff green-box sites will come from current landfill fees. The health department will get seven more employees, funded entirely with federal or state grants. The Agency on Aging will get two part-time, grant-funded positions.

“Our personnel costs represent a major portion of the total county budget,” Pence said.

In addition to staff increases, there’s a 1.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment, a 1 percent longevity hike for public safety workers, a 0.5 percent longevity hike for other county workers and step increases provided by county policies and union contracts. A total of $238,878 in salary and wage increases were approved earlier by the commissioners.

The final budget also calls for $14.5 million in capital improvements this year, including $6 million for a new south campus building, with half budgeted this year and half in 2016. Renovation of the historic jail building next to the courthouse for county attorney offices is budgeted at $2.85 million.

Other capital improvement projects include $235,000 for renovation of the existing jail, $2.5 million for a landfill liner and $642,762 for improvements at the fairgrounds. Half the funding for a $3 million community gymnasium near the fairgrounds proposed by Parks and Recreation director Jed Fisher would come from the county and half from private matching donations.

Plans also call for setting aside about $52 million over the next five years for building projects and other capital improvements. But these capital program plans are not written in stone.

“It’s important to note that the commissioners will need to annually determine and decide if they will authorize these capital dollars generated by levying the maximum amounts to be transferred for these purposes,” he said. “If other critical needs required funding in future years, the commissioners would have the discretion to reallocate those mill levy-generated funds.”

The budget maintains a 24 percent cash reserve — projected to be $13.2 million by the end of the 2015 fiscal year.

The budget is available for review online at http://flathead.mt.gov under “Finance Department” and “Financial Documents.”

—————

Commissioners split on final budget vote

Flathead County Commissioner Pam Holmquist voted no across the board after the final fiscal year 2015 budget’s capital program was broken down into its major pieces at commissioners’ Aug. 28 budget hearing.

She voted no to the gymnasium project, the south campus building, the jail expansion and overall capital appropriations. She also voted against the final budget and raising the permissive medical levy from 5 percent to 8.98.

Holmquist was opposed to the idea of levying the maximum number of mills allowed to fund the capital projects.

“I don’t support picking up mills that were left on the table in previous years,” she said. “It’s not fair to the taxpayers.... The county needs to live within its means, and I don’t think this budget does that.”

Holmquist also expressed concern that insufficient cash reserves could jeopardize the county’s AA financial rating.

“It’s not that I don’t support some of the (capital) projects,” she said later. “We just have too much money going out.”

Commissioner Gary Krueger disagreed with Holmquist, saying after the hearing that if the county didn’t deal with growing capital needs, “we’re setting the stage for larger tax increases” in the future.

Commissioner Cal Scott did not comment on the budget.

—————

Funding plan could expand jail in 7 years

Overcrowding at the 29-year-old Flathead County Detention Center has been a problem for decades. But finding a way to pay for a major expansion has been difficult.

Ten years ago when a jail expansion project was introduced, cost estimates ran to more than $14 million, according to county administrator Mike Pence.

The detention center population can average of 89 inmates when it was designed for 63, Sheriff Chuck Curry said. And whenever the jail population reaches 92, law officials start restricting the crimes for which they will incarcerate people.

“We quit taking nonviolent misdemeanors when we hit 92,” Curry said. “We always take felons and those who are an imminent threat to public safety.”

At times, the jail roster can reach 80 percent felons, about double the percentage that should be in jail, Curry said. Based on current needs and future projections, he estimates the detention center should have 200 beds.

The fiscal year 2015 county budget approved by the commissioners on Aug. 28 provides a funding mechanism for a major jail expansion. By levying the maximum number of mills allowed by law, nearly $10 million could be raised for the project in seven years, Pence told the commissioners in his budget message.

The county has levied the maximum number of mills in past years, but it left mills “on the table” during the recent recession to soften the tax burden on county residents. At the same time, the county asked departments to hold the line on spending and for a time froze pay raises. The county can reclaim those unused mills from past years and levy them in future years, Pence said.

“The commissioners directed staff to levy to our maximum legal ability and to earmark this new tax revenue and transfer it to the capital improvement plan for construction of a long-needed adult detention facility expansion,” he said.

Pence and others doubt Flathead County voters would approve a bond issue to pay for an expanded jail — the interest alone could come to $4.5 million over the 20-year life of the bond. Additional funding for a jail expansion also could come from the county’s share of federal payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, if that funding continues.

Among the county officials who publicly supported the funding plan approved by the commissioners were Pence, Curry, District Court Judge Robert Allison and Justice of the Peace Mark Sullivan.

“Honestly, my biggest concern is, will it be quick enough?” Curry remarked about the funding plan.