Columbia Falls approves $7.58 million budget
The Columbia Falls City Council Tuesday approved a $7.568 million budget. On a house assessed at $200,000, a homeowner could see a tax increase of about $80 over last year.
But there’s a caveat to this — because of a state reappraisal and the state changing the tax rate, many residential home appraisals actually went down, some by as much as 30 percent. So the actual impact on that homeowner could be much less, City Manager Susan Nicosia explained. Last year, a home assessed at $200,000 under the previous tax rate would have paid about $520 in city taxes. This year, a $200,000 house would pay just under $600 in city taxes.
The council opted not to apply the maximum mills allowed under the state law, but trimmed off a little more than four mills, which resulted in $20,000 less revenue and a total increase of about 23 mills. The reduction in mills cut the tax bill on a $200,000 house by about $10.
The vote for the budget was 4-1 in favor, with Mayor Don Barnhart and City Councilman Darin Fisher absent. Councilwoman Julie Plevel voted against the cut in the mill levy. She noted the city could use that $20,000 this coming fiscal year, as a developer has approached the city about building a hotel and convention center on the Norem property next to Pinewood Park.
If that project comes to fruition, the developer has asked the city for help in moving a sewer main that traverses the lot. Moving the line would cost about $80,000, Nicosia noted.
In addition, upgrading Second Avenue West would cost an additional $100,000. Attracting a major hotel to the city is a top priority for the council.
But other councilors were worried about the tax hike on commercial property owners. Unlike residential homes, commercial property largely was reassessed higher than previous years by the state, so not only are properties worth more, they’ll pay a higher tax rate. Councilman Dave Petersen, who owns commercial real estate in the city, said his assessment went up significantly.
The overall budget is actually slightly less than last year — about $111,000. But the taxable valuation of the city dropped about 9.64 percent to $6.051 million, which was what it was assessed at in 2010-11.
The bulk of spending in the budget is in personnel costs. The city has about 31 full-time equivalent positions, which cost about $2.416 million annually. That accounts for 33 percent of budget appropriations.
This budget does add a foreman position to the public works department. Separately council also passed a resolution setting the salaries and benefits for key employees for the year. The chief of police was set at $65,198; public works director at $61,831, fire chief, $63,021, city treasurer $27.43 an hour, city clerk, $24.52 an hour and city judge, $47,053 for a .8 full-time equivalent position.
In other news:
• Council OK’d a mural that will feature a Mel Ruder photograph on the Nord Building owned by Petersen. Petersen purchased the photo from the Hungry Horse News. He said he got the idea from the City of Cut Bank.
• Police department assistant Tanya Edstrom received a pin for five years of service.
• The council voted in favor of abandoning an alleyway that’s no longer used on Sixth Street East. The council back in the 1980s wanted to keep the right-of-way for utilities, but it’s steep and difficult to maintain and no longer needed.
• Language in the city’s new urban renewal plan and tax increment financing district was modified to reflect that council would have the say over how funds were spent. The original document called for a five-member board outside of council to make recommendations on how to spend the money. The city won’t likely see any funds from the TIF until 2017, Nicosia noted.
• The city sold a lot from its Cedar Creek subdivision after years in the doldrums. The buyer will put $20,000 down and the city will hold the remaining $80,000 until the homeowner builds their house and gets bank financing.