Whitefish Council compensation plan approved with smaller stipends

The Whitefish City Council voted unanimously to approve a compensation package for the mayor and councilors after making an amendment to the stipend amount.

After Councilor Frank Sweeney said the stipend was too high and that it should be halved, councilors voted 4-1 in favor of the lower amount, with Councilor Rebecca Norton in opposition. The council then accepted the compensation package with a vote of 4-0. Councilor Giuseppe Caltabiano recused himself from the vote. 

“There is some sentiment at least in my view that the stipend is maybe too high,” Sweeney said. “I think the $3,000 for a councilor or $6,000 for the mayor ... you could cut those in half, and everybody is well compensated, and it would be managed appropriately.” 

Norton said while a smaller stipend may cover the costs of tablets and phones, she had other considerations in mind, like childcare and housekeeping. 

“I am constantly trying to recruit people for council and for different committees and people that I really think would have been wonderful councilors could not run [even with the higher stipend amount,]” she said. 

After several work sessions to discuss how compensation for councilors works in other Montana municipalities, including Kalispell and Columbia Falls, a plan was drafted that provided a salary based on the city’s employee-only health insurance plan. 

The accepted annual gross salary for the mayor and councilors is $14,119.53.  

The accepted stipend amounts are $3,000 for the mayor and $1,500 for each councilor. Officials may buy coverage from the city’s health insurance plan, and they still get a membership to the WAVE. 

Councilor Ben Davis said compensation has been discussed for years and reiterated that only two towns in Montana had all volunteer city councils; Whitefish was one of them. 

“I think the way we went about this is thoughtful,” Davis said. “We went out and asked the voters directly. I think that was the right way to do it. 

“The impact to the typical homeowner is very minimal to the tune of something like 25 bucks a year,” he added. “To be honest, the typical homeowner gets far more value from that in their life by having a good council up here.” 

In November, voters approved changing the charter to allow the City Council to be compensated in the form of salary, stipend, mileage and/or health insurance. 

The compensation and benefits package become effective July 1. The total cost to implement the compensation is approximately $128,326. 

THE COUNCIL denied a request from the Tamarack Ridge homeowners association to accept the dedication of Merganser Court and Harlequin Court, thereby changing the two private roads to public roads. 

Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman pointed out a specific condition of approval on the subdivisions’ plat at the time of construction that says, “This dedication is made with the express understanding that the private roadways will never be maintained by any government agency or public authority.” 

The narrow, private roads were not built to the city’s engineering standards for public roads. 

“We determined the acceptance of the private roadways would result in about a $5,400 increase in our maintenance assessments,” Workman said. “[That] would not cover an anticipated overlay, which we think will likely be required in about 8-10 years, to the tune of about $120,000.” 

Workman also cautioned the council that accepting this request will, undoubtably, result in future requests from subdivisions with private roads. 

Davis asked Workman if the only two reasons for suggesting denial of the request were precedent and the financial requirement for maintenance. 

“The roads simply don’t meet public road standards. They don’t have curb and gutter and sidewalk on both sides,” Workman said, adding they were not built with the city’s standard of inspection during construction. “The developer built these roads to a private roadway standard which the city never intended to take over.” 

Paul Burton spoke on behalf of homeowners association and told the council the developer who built the Haugen Heights subdivision also built Merganser Court and Harlequin Court. 

The city did take ownership of the nearby Haugen Heights Road in 2020. It serves two subdivisions within Whitefish city limits, 12 other properties, and meets the city’s standard for road width. The road’s maintenance is shared by the city and Flathead County.   

There was no other public comment. 

Sweeney said he believes all roads that are accessible to the public should be public roads and moved to approve the resolution to take on the roads.  

Davis said having private and public roads does not always result in good outcomes and added that this specific case feels unfair. 

“What it is essentially doing is having taxpayers subsidize the maintenance of this road,” Davis said. “Anybody who lives on a private road in this town would probably like that.” 

The motion to approve failed, 3-2, with Sweeney and Caltabiano voting in favor.