County loans $75K to fire district

The Flathead County Commissioners recently approved loaning the Hungry Horse Fire District $75,000 after the fire district board spent more than its budget allowed.

Annual payments of $7,250 will be required to pay off the 10-year loan. The county set a variable interest rate of about 2 percent to make up for what it would have made if it invested the money rather than loaned to the fire district, Flathead County finance director Sandy Carlson said.

The county commissioners have served as the fire district's board for more than a year after the $75,000 debt was discovered and the commissioners were unable to find volunteers to serve on the fire district board.

Rural fire district boards are autonomous and control their own finances, Flathead County administrator Mike Pence said, but state law doesn't offer counties much protection once they exceed their budget.

"We think we have a mechanism in place to prevent this from happening again," Pence said.

With no fire district board in place last summer to submit a budget to the county when the county was drafting its own budget, the county's finance department prepared an austerity budget for the district and the commissioners took over finances.

Last year, the Hungry Horse Fire District's chairman, Ross Barker, was arrested and charged with theft and official misconduct. He pleaded guilty to stealing $2,634 from the fire district and was sentenced to probation in November.