City taking 'holding pattern' approach on budget

By RICHARD HANNERSWhitefish Pilot

Facing the outlook of tougher economic times, the Whitefish City Council discussed ways to maintain a balanced budget without cutting staff, raising taxes or eliminating capital projects.Mayor Mike Jenson started off the discussion at the council's May 15 meeting by asking if "staff savings" had been considered.City manager Gary Marks said he's taking a "holding pattern" approach and advised the council not to panic."If there are resignations or attrition, we should think about whether to refill those positions," he said."I'm willing to take a pay cut," councilor Ryan Friel said.Other than some travel expenses, city councilors work for free.Councilor Nancy Woodruff noted that the city continues to plan for large capital projects, such as a new city hall and an emergency services building."It seems out of synch to discuss these during bad times," she said.Marks said the bonding work for the emergency services building has been very conservative, and besides, there's a big difference between capital and operating budgets. Money for one cannot be used for the other, he said."An economic slowdown could affect both, but unless we had a depression, we don't need to hold back on these big projects," he said.Marks has suggested raising fees for ambulance service, planning review and building permits. Planning fees were recently increased, but building fees have not changed since 1990, he said."Should we be raising fees if our area of responsibility shrinks?" Woodruff asked, referring to the city's lawsuit against the county to retain planning jurisdiction over the two-mile "doughnut" area."If you don't want to raise fees, we'll have to dig in deeper," Marks said.As for this year's union negotiations, Marks said sufficient law-enforcement reserves have been built up to handle increased pay for the city's policemen."We need higher entrance-level pay to compete with Kalispell," he said.Marks said talks haven't started yet with firefighters. Making the transition to 24/7 emergency services will require hiring six additional firefighters, and a mill levy election to fund the new hires will take place in mid-August.Councilor Nick Palmer asked if language in the resort tax could be changed so the revenue could be used for different purposes. Marks said something like that would have to go to the voters.Woodruff said she was uncomfortable setting a date for a public hearing on raising planning fees if she didn't know the size of the increase.But Marks and city attorney John Phelps said adequate public notice needed to be made in time for a June 16 hearing. That date and June 30 for a special budget meeting were unanimously approved.