City OKs $40.4 million budget

With little discussion and no public comment, Whitefish City Council on Monday evening unanimously approved a $40.4 million budget for the 2015 fiscal year. The total is an 11.54 increase over last year.

The increase is attributed to spending down accumulated and saved cash balances for infrastructure projects in the resort tax, street, stormwater, water and wastewater funds, according to City Manager Chuck Stearns’ budget message.

The budget includes a 4.16 percent or $110,242 increase in revenue from property taxes because of a 3.47 percent increase in the city’s certified taxable valuation, and because of a 0.8 mill levy increase allocated to the city’s library. The total levy will be 120.6 mills.

For a residential property with a market value of $300,000, the tax increase of 0.8 mills will be about $3.69 annually.

“Whitefish has historically had very low property tax mill levy rates because of our resort tax rebate for property tax reductions, high property valuations, and maintenance district assessments,” Stearns said.

Total expenditures for the General Fund is up 10.14 percent.

“The increases are primarily because of three new or increased positions, pay increases, and increased transfers,” Stearns said.

City employees will receive a 3.8 percent pay increase, including the city manager and the Municipal Court Judge.

The budget includes hiring a human resources director. A new school resource officer position has been added that will be entirely funded by a COPS grant and matching contribution from the Whitefish School District.

Other expenses include a new $60,000 piece of equipment to maintain the Highway 93 greenway landscaping and trail snowplowing. The budget also includes roof repairs and a new energy conserving ceiling at the Stumptown Ice Den.

“This proposed FY15 budget accomplishes a lot in regards to adding staffing or resources to police, administration, GIS/IT, and fire equipment,” Stearns said. “We were able to add this staffing because of steadily growing revenues without a property tax rate increase — the only property increase is a 0.8 mill levy increase for allocation to the library.”