Whitefish ready to adopt $40.9 million budget

The Whitefish City Council is poised to adopt a $40.9 million budget for the coming year and will hold a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 21, before taking final action.

Total spending for the fiscal year that began July 1 is projected at $10.3 million — 20.2 percent lower than last year’s budget because of the completion of the City Hall and parking structure projects, City Manager Adam Hammatt noted in his budget message.

The budget is balanced with a property tax 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 had projected an 8 percent increase in taxable valuations.

The final valuation numbers mean the city will see a 13.95 percent increase in property tax revenue of about $365,730.

Cash reserves for Whitefish are expected to increase from 11.57 percent last year to 15.24 percent this year, bring the cash reserve fund to $1.3 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. He’s aiming for cash reserves in the 20 to 25 percent of annual expenditures range, about $1.7 million to $2.2 million.

City workers will get a 4.5 percent pay raise, but their medical insurance premiums are going up 3.9 percent.

The city workforce will increase; added staffing includes a full-time long-range planner, two seasonal parks workers moving to full time and a parking enforcement position moving to full time. A part-time fire department administrative assistant is being added, and the police department’s part-time budget will bump up about $21,000. Boat inspection staffing costing about $40,000 was added to handle aquatic invasive species initiatives.

Whitefish homeowners will pay roughly $22 more this year in special assessments for street maintenance, lighting and parks to help fund the city’s capital improvement program. Commercial property owners will pay slightly more.

While the stormwater rates will stay the same this year, they’ll likely go up in the future because stormwater reserves have been dwindling, Hammatt said.

In other business, the council will hold a public hearing on the city’s proposed rewrite of zoning regulations for planned-unit development districts, namely to clarify the maximum average density where a PUD overlays more than one underlying zone.

The city staff has included an alternative draft for the council to consider, which makes some minor additional changes they “feel will help keep the PUD an attractive option for developers while maintaining the majority of changes suggested by the [ad hoc] committee,” Hammatt said in his council report.

The meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.