City budget hikes property taxes about $20 per average home

By HEIDI DESCH / Hungry Horse News

The average taxpayer in Columbia Falls can expect to pay roughly a $20 increase in taxes next year.

The increase is the result of a mill levy hike of about 10 mills. The tax increase includes costs for city services, which includes city sewer, water, street assessments and property taxes on a home appraised at $250,000 with a family of four on a 10,000-square- foot lot.

"It's not like its super expensive to live in Columbia Falls," City Manager Bill Shaw told the city council Monday. "It's pretty affordable to be here."

The council approved the increase in mills, but still has to finalize the city budget. It's expected to vote on the budget in October.

City staff is still making changes to the budget in order to adjust for increased costs, such as gas, and revenue sources that have decreased this year.

One area that has seen a decrease is the park and recreation fund.

Finance Director Susan Nicosia told the council that money for parks improvement is decreased.

"The cash in lieu lost money. We don't have any money this year," she said.

Typically, she said, there is between $70,000 and $90,000 in the fund that can be committed to projects.

Cash in lieu for parks is generated when developers pay money in place of creating parkland in new subdivisions.

The budget is also feeling the pinch when it comes to rising gas prices. Most departments are predicting an increase in gas and oil costs over the current budget.

Shaw said that efforts have been made to reduce fuel consumption, especially in the public works department.

"We had a lot of vehicles idling before," he said. "Now we shut vehicles off rather than letting them idle for 10 to 15 minutes. We've also cut down on travel out of town."

He noted that trips are being planned so that one trip is made to pick up several items instead of making multiple trips.

Also, the city is looking into putting a better fuel monitoring system in place.

"It would allow us to look at every vehicles usage. Hopefully by this time next year we'll have a better monitoring system," Shaw said. "It's good to look at dollars, but we need to start looking at gallons. We know the total gallons used, but not the amount per vehicle."

Nicosia noted that the city is trying to create a balancing act between spending money on current needs and planning for the future.

In the past, the city has been able to save left-over cash over a period of years to fund specific projects, such as upgrades to City Hall. That gets tougher to do each year.

"That list (of improvements) we keep shoving aside can't be ignored forever," she said.

The $20 increase may not be the last increase of the year, either.

Shaw told the council that at the end of the year it may be necessary to approve an increase in sewer and water fees.

"Growth isn't keeping up with costs," he said.

Last year the council approved an increase in the water rate structure for both the base charge and volume use fee. Estimated growth has been projected to cover costs, but adding new homes has slowed.

The city is also trying to fund wastewater plant upgrades and expansion projects. One of the reasons for increasing the rates was to create a cash savings that could be used for the projects.

About $954,000 from the fund is expected to be used this year.