City budget talks turn to police, court, public works

Whitefish City Council last week took a look at the second half of the fiscal year 2017 preliminary budget for the city.

The preliminary budget shows a 5 percent decrease in property taxes as a result of increased resort tax revenue.

In order to balance the budget and keep a tax decrease, City Manager Chuck Stearns is proposing a drawdown of reserves by $131,000, which would leave a 10 percent end-of-year cash balance. Last year’s budget proposed a year-end balance of 12 percent and the previous two years set it at about 10 percent.

The projected decrease in property taxes is the result of the increase from 2 to 3 percent for the city’s resort tax, with 25 percent of the increase going to additional property tax reduction, thus leading to the decrease in property tax collections. The budget shows the mill levy with a reduction of 7 mills over last year.

In addition to the tax decrease, the preliminary budget calls for a reduction in spending of 23 percent or $14.7 million less than last year. The proposed overall budget totals $48.6 million. Last year’s budget at $63.3 million was more than 60 percent higher than normal.

The decrease this year is because of the completion of the Haskill Basin conservation easement acquisition at $8 million and the partial completion of the $16 million City Hall and parking structure project.

Council Monday adopted the preliminary budget. The final budget hearing is set for Aug. 15.

Individual pieces of the budget discussed last week included:

Municipal Court

Municipal Judge Brad Johnson has requested an increase in the court budget for contract workers from $1,200 to $4,000.

Johnson said the request would allow the court to increase the use of a judge pro tempore for bench trials. Attorney Eric Hummel serves in the role currently, filling in when Johnson is unavailable. If the budget increase is approved Hummel could serve in the role more often.

“I often give defendants the opportunity to avoid a jury trial by having a bench trial,” he said. “This way they would have a fresh judge to decide their case.”

Johnson said he often makes decisions on preliminary parts of cases or has contact with a defendent in other matters and some may be hesitant to want him to make a decision in their case. Having a different judge would alleviate perceived concerns of bias.

City Council gave a preliminary OK to making the addition to the budget.

Johnson also asked for an increase in the budget to allow for a part-time receptionist to move to full time. The additional cost for the move is estimated at about $33,000.

Johnson said the position has had a rapid turn-over and qualified people often move on to a better paying position.

“It takes time to advertise and train new people,” he said.

Mayor John Muhlfeld said he is reluctant to increase the clerk position to full time noting that the number of tickets issued by the police department has decreased in the last few years. Just under 3,000 tickets were issued by officers in 2013. That number dropped in 2014 and 2015 to about 2,500 tickets.

“I think the workload of the court has actually decreased,” he said.

Police Department

The police department budget includes the purchase of a fully equipped police vehicle at a cost of $33,500.

It also includes a transfer from the general fund to the police department in the amount of $60,000, which is to cover higher salary and higher medical insurance costs.

Police Chief Bill Dial had asked for a $10,000 increase in spending for part-time wages from last year’s budget of about $50,000. However, the item was cut from the preliminary budget.

Dial said the move was designed to increase the amount of time worked by part-time officers. The police department has 15 full-time officers and relies on the use of three part-time officers to assist during busy times like Fourth of July weekend and help with covering shifts when officers take vacation time.

“The nice thing about part-time versus full-time officers that are paid overtime is that it saves money,” he said. “It makes sense to use these part-time officers.”

Dial said the department has received about 10,000 calls for service annually since 2012 and that number looks to increase this year.

Council gave a preliminary OK to add the additional $10,000 back into the budget for part-time officers.

Public Works

The street fund includes a number of planned improvement projects totaling about $600,000.

One of the top priorities for the fund is repairs and reconstruction of the Central Avenue slump at the south end of the street where it curves near the Kiddie Park. The street fund shows $452,000 in expenses as part of the $972,000 total for the project.

For years now, the section of the street near the Kiddie Park has been in-need of repair. The project includes the replacement of an old cast iron water main with lead joints that has had several leaks. The reconstruction of the block from Third to Fourth streets with streetscaping to match the rest of Central is also planned.

For street improvements, the budget also shows a decrease in spending for chipseal pavement treatments of about $520,000 after a few years of work were completed last fiscal year. The budget calls for $100,000 in overlays for this year.

In the commercial and residential lighting districts fund, the preliminary budget calls for a 10 percent increase in the commercial lighting assessment for fiscal year 2017.

The 10 percent increase is estimated to generate about $7,000 in additional revenue for the fund.

Public Works Director Craig Workman said the increase translates to about $3.50 on an annual basis for properties in the commercial lighting district. Council has approved an increase the last two years in the commercial district to avoid an operating deficiency.

The residential lighting district may face the same situation this fiscal year and require an increase in the assessment that goes toward maintaining and improving street lighting within the city.

“Even with increases in the district, lighting is expensive,” Workman said. “We now have about 700 city-owned fixtures. We’re testing out LED lights on Seventh Street and we hope that could mean some savings.”

Council agreed to look at an increase to the residential lighting district as a way to keep that fund solvent. City staff will return to council with details on what an increase would cost to taxpayers in the district.

The stormwater fund includes expenditures for two projects. Improvements to the Riverside stormwater treatment pond at a cost of $50,000 and improvements to the Armory Road drainage at a cost of $65,000.

The water fund includes an increase in revenue for water usage in the amount of about $175,000.

There are $1 million planned in improvements in the water fund in the budget. Projects include water main upgrade on the Columbia Avenue bridge at $150,000, cast iron water main replacement on Montana Avenue at a cost of $350,000, cast iron water main replacement on Third and Fourth streets at $150,000, and water main replacement on Central Avenue at a cost of $175,000.

The wastewater fund sets out $3 million in spending for improvements. That includes about $700,000 in inflow and infiltration mitigation projects, a sewer main upgrade north of the former North Valley Hospital site at a cost of $275,000 and design costs for the planned upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment plant at $1.9 million.

The city also anticipates about $2.4 million in revenue from loans to pay for the inflow and infiltration project and the design of the wastewater plant.

Other capital expenses in the public works budget, include the purchase of machinery and equipment.

The budget includes purchase of one pickup truck in the amount of $27,000, another pickup truck for $37,000 and an excavator at a cost of about $90,000.

Also $75,000 has been set aside for an expansion of the city shop building.

Resort Tax

The city’s resort tax fund shows an increase in revenue of about $130,000 due to anticipated increases in collections during fiscal year 2016.

Projects expected to be completed using resort tax funds include the reconstruction of West Seventh Street and trail construction at a cost of $1.5 million. Also in the budget is design of the Somers Street reconstruction at a cost of $30,000.

Improvements to city parks using resort tax funds is set at about $280,000 including reconstruction of the Riverside Park tennis courts, the basketball court at Memorial Park, creating lacrosse fields at Armory Park, constructing a parking lot at the James Bakke Nature Reserve and improvements to the Roy Duff Memorial Armory.