Budget OK'd with decrease in spending
Whitefish City Council Monday approved a $40.9 million budget for the coming fiscal year.
The budget is balanced with a property mill levy increase of 1.19 mills and a 12.82 percent increase in taxable value due to the state’s reappraisal of property values. The city previously projected an increase of 8 percent in taxable valuations.
The valuation numbers mean the city will see a 13.95 percent increase in property tax revenue or about $365,730.
City tax payers do receive a rebate in their tax bill as a result of the resort tax. The city expects a total of $1.17 million in relief from the resort tax.
“We are where we expect to be for the resort tax,” Finance Director Dana Smith said.
Total spending for fiscal year 2018, which began July 1, is set at $10.3 million or 20 percent lower than last year’s fiscal year budget because of the completion of City Hall and parking structure projects.
Cash reserves for the city are expected to increase to 15.24 percent this year compared with 11.57 percent last year. That’s projected to leave the city a cash reserve of $1.3 million.
City Manager Adam Hammatt in his budget memo said, the city’s goal is to increase cash reserves against a future day of need. He recommends the city establish cash reserves in the 20 to 25 percent range of annual expenditures, or about $1.7 to $2.2 million.
“In past years, our reserves have been reduced and it will be important to build them back up if we are to maintain service levels during the next recession,” Hammatt said.
Smith said there are three financial areas that are in need for the city — improving fund balance for higher reserves, better funding for capital improvement projects and covering unfunded liabilities — and this year’s budget looks to address all of these areas on some level.
“We’d like to see improvement in these areas,” Smith said. “To improve cash reserves, better funding for capital improvement projects, focusing on less debt and covering our unfunded liabilities related to employee payoffs for retirements.
City employees will get a 4.5 percent raise, but their medical insurance premiums are going up 3.9 percent.
The budget calls for an increase in city staff, including a full-time long-range planner, two seasonal parks workers moving to full time and a parking enforcement position becoming full time and a part-time fire department administrative assistant.
In addition, the police department’s part-time budget will be increased by $21,000 after the department saw a 40 percent increase in calls last year. There is also an increase in cost to just under $37,000 for the School Resource Officer as the COPS Grant to fund the position has run out.
The addition of boat inspection staff at Whitefish Lake State Park added $40,000 to the budget for the aquatic invasive species program.
Also part of the budget, homeowners will pay about $22 more this year in special assessments for parks and greenway, street maintenance street lighting.
Smith said the increases in assessments are designed to better fund the city’s capital improvement program.
“All of those increases are to fund capital improvement projects and equipment,” Smith said. “We’re working toward not deferring all of those projects to future years.”
Stormwater rates are expected to stay the same this year, however, the city will need to consider an increase next year because stormwater reserves have been dwindling, Hammatt notes.
Following approval of the budget, Councilor Andy Feury took a moment to comment on tax bills. He pointed out to a breakdown of the 2016 tax bills for property owners noting that 52 percent of their taxes go toward education, while only 26 percent goes to the city.
“That struck me,” he said. “I’m a huge supporter of education, but we always get blamed for tax increases.”