Cascade County Commissioners unanimously approved their budget during a Sept. 7 meeting.
Commissioners had opened their proposed budget for public review on Aug. 30 and conducted a public hearing during their Sept. 7 meeting.
The budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 includes $77,944,470 in revenue, a 10.76 percent increase over last year.
The budget includes $94,925,863 in expenses, or a decrease of 1.7 percent.
[VIEW: County proposed budget for fiscal year 2024]
Commissioner Joe Briggs said during the budget process that the county still has American Rescue Plan Act funds making it appear the county is spending beyond it’s means and that those funds will impact the budget until they are spent.
The county was allocated $15.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and allocated most of that to other agencies for water, sewer, housing and other projects.
The county reserved about $3 million for their own projects and have expended $931,867 so far.
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The proposed budget also includes planned capital improvements such as a new roof at the Four Seasons Arena, a new roof at the courthouse annex where many county offices are housed, and the addition of a gymnasium at the juvenile detention center.
Briggs said that the proposed budget appears to have an $18 million deficit, but that is largely the result of large expenditures for which revenue was already received for a specific project or saved for a project in previous years.
- ARPA funds pending dispersal: $12,654,098.37
- public works heavy equipment that was ordered in the last fiscal year, but haven’t yet been received: $434,500
- aging services facility upgrades: $1,146,308
- adult detention center facility upgrades: $445,000
- Armington Bridge replacement: $2,591,958
- fleet vehicle purchases ordered last fiscal year but haven’t yet been received: $833,950
Briggs said that the staff at the juvenile detention center wants to add a gymnasium to that facility, but since they’d run into costly soil issues during construction that they’ve authorized a geotech study to start then determine if the new gym is feasible.
Briggs said that overall, the county to be levied under the proposed budget have gone down slightly. The general countywide mills came down by 12.98 but were offset by the 14 mills for public safety that voters approved in November 2022.
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It’s a reappraisal year for the Montana Department of Revenue and for the most part, property values increased significantly statewide.
The appraisals are based on property data from Jan. 1, 2022, Jason Boggess told The Electric after a July public presentation on the appraisals.
This year, the average residential increase in Cascade County property values was about 31 percent, he said.
That’s due to the market, which went up over the last two years due to demand, low interest rates, buying power and low supply of housing, Boggess told The Electric.
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The demand outpaced the supply, driving up housing prices in most markets, including Cascade County, Boggess said.
Commercial property values went up about 27 percent, Boggess said.
But because property values increase, the value of a mill increased, so taxing jurisdictions are levying fewer mills to make their budgets.
Cascade County, and other local governments, are limited by state law on how much they can raise property taxes annually. That cap is half the average rate of inflation for the prior three years, which this year is 2.46 percent.
For Cascade County, the number of general mills the commission can levy decreased from 121.84 to 108.86, Briggs said.
Property owners outside the city limits pay a county road mill and rural mill.
Property owners within the incorporated towns of Belt, Cascade and Neihart pay their town mill, the county road mill and the county rural mill.
According to Briggs’ budget summary, the taxable value of a residential property times the number of mills levied on the property divided by 1,000 equals the tax liability.
The state sets the taxable values and the legislature defines the equation that translates market value into the taxable value, according to Briggs’ summary.
The adopted budget includes salary increases for elected officials, non-union employees, sheriff’s deputies and county attorneys.
The board meet Aug. 29 and unanimously agreed to recommend that the sheriff receive a 35 percent raise; the county attorney receive a flat increase of about $12,000; and the other elected county officials receive an eight percent cost of living increase, all effective Jan. 1, 2024.
The board is also recommending that non-union county employees receive an eight percent cost of living increase, retroactive to July 1, 2023, which is when the current fiscal year began.
The sheriff’s base salary for the last budget year was $69,524.35.
The 35 percent increase is an additional $24,333.52, bringing the sheriff’s base salary for the current budget year to $93,857.55, plus $3,032 as a statutory add for a combined office, plus $4,223.59 for his longevity increase, bringing the total sheriff salary this year to $103,113.14.
The county ran their public safety last year, which voters approved, in an effort to increase salaries for sheriff’s deputies and county attorneys to address recruitment and retention issues faced by both departments.
State law sets deputy salaries at a percentage of the sheriff’s salary, so to give deputies a raise, commissioners had to increase the sheriff’s salary.
Base salaries for the county commissioners, clerk and recorder, treasurer, justices of the peace, and clerk of court was $69,524.35 for the last budget year.
The eight percent cost of living increase is an additional $5,561.95.
County commissioners, clerk or court and justices of the peace get an additional $2,000 under state law bringing their base salary to $77,086.30 for the current budget year.
The clerk and recorder and treasurer get the added $2,000 and $3,032 for running combined offices, brining their base salary to $80,118.30 for the current budget year.
The county attorney’s base salary was $127,248.92 for the last budget year and county officials opted to give his position a $21,623.08 increase with public safety levy funds, bringing his base salary for this budget year up to $148,872.
During the Aug. 29 compensation board meeting, County Attorney Josh Racki said the deputy county attorney’s had negotiated flat $10,000 raises so far in their labor agreement.
The county compensation board includes county commissioners, three county elected officials, the county attorney and three resident taxpayers appointing by the commission.
In June, commissioners appointed Neal DuBois and Margaret Mitchell to the board to fill vacancies. Ted Lewis is the third resident taxpayer member.
