Mayor parts ways with council on budget

The Columbia Falls city council last week approved its 2020-21 budget, but Mayor Don Barnhart voted against the $13.4 million spending plan.

At issue was whether the city should levy the maximum amount allowed under the law, or defer a little less than 3 mills until next year.

The additional 3 mills amounted to about $22,000 in the budget.

Barnhart wanted to hold the line.

“We’re known as a conservative council,” Barnhart said. “Show it.”

He said he realized it wasn’t a lot of money, but with the coronavirus pandemic hurting the jobs market, it seemed like the right message to present to the public.

In previous public hearings, an elderly woman on a fixed income told city council she might have to move from Columbia Falls because city taxes were getting too high for her to afford.

The council, however, voted in favor of the maximum amount, with councilwoman Paula Robinson absent. The bottomline tax increase for the city’s budget is a total of 9.331 mills which amounts to a $25.19 increase on a residence assessed at $200,000. If council had held the line, the tax increase without the 3 mills would’ve been 6.421 mills or $17.34 on a house assessed for $200,000.

The budget is up about 17% over last year, but a large chunk of that is due to the city putting in a new water well. The $2 million project, which is in the final stages, was drilled next to the city’s garage at Horine Park. Another large capital expense item is a new bathroom at River’s Edge Park. The total cost of the project, including a lift station to pump the sewage to the mainline, is about $193,000.

That cost, however, is offset in part by a state grant that’s paying about $85,000. The city’s share is the remaining cost.

River’s Edge is the city’s most popular park. The city also plans on putting in four new tennis courts, likely by next spring, at Hoerner Park across from the high school. The tennis courts at Columbus Park have seen better days and rebuilding them in their current location didn’t make much sense, because the park is the former site of a school, and the old foundations that are buried continue to settle, which could damage the courts if they were rebuilt in the same location.

The city is looking at ways of possibly rehabbing the old courts in the future.

In other news:

• Council heard from North Hilltop Road resident Ron Role about dust on Patterson Lane that runs past his home. He wanted the city to do something about the dust.

But after he made his case and left the meeting, city attorney Justin Breck noted that Patterson Lane was a private drive and dust control was up to the landowners, not the city.