Great Falls Public Library officials are continuing their levy implementation plan with some delays due to cash flow changes.
Susie McIntyre, library director, updated commissioners during their Jan. 2 work session on the library’s progress and plans for the additional library funds voters approved in June.
The levy funds are not being used for the library’s planned remodel, which will be funded by a capital campaign, McIntyre said.
She said they’d planned to be open seven days a week by April, but will have to push that back to May or June as hiring has been delayed due to cash flow.
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She said library staff has adjusted their hiring plan based on cash flow projections and the library board will review that plan during their meeting later this month.
In recent years, the city subsidized the library fund with $350,000 annually from the general fund in addition to nine mills, two of which were voted and seven were in the 1993 management between the city and library board.
Because the cash flow changed and the library has some large expenses at the beginning of the budget year, the Great Falls Library Foundation loaned the library $300,000 to cover those costs. The library is paying back those funds to the foundation this month.
McIntyre said staff hadn’t accounted for some increased costs and that she hadn’t fully understood the cash flow change from monthly deposits to twice a year with tax receipts.
Commissioner Rick Tryon questioned how those weren’t accounted for in the planning stages.
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McIntyre said that after library staff, working with the city manager and finance offices, developed the estimates for the levy in December 2022 and commissioners approved the ballot language in February 2023, commissioners approved an energy contract in February under which electricity rates tripled and a labor agreement in July with 8 percent increases for library staff, over the historical three to five percent staff had budgeted for.
McIntyre said she’d erroneously assumed the general fund would cover a shortfall as it had for other departments in the past.
The library began their effort to increase mills in 2021 and in June 2023, voters approved an amendment to the City Charter to allow for up to 17 mills.
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At the time, that was estimated to generate another $1.5 million for library operations, but it was a reappraisal year for the Montana Department of Revenue and for many, property values increased, so those mills generated another $382,725, according to the city finance department.
That means the library could receive closer to $2 million in the current budget.
But those figures don’t account for tax protests and collections rates.
The city receives property taxes funds in December and June, which created cash flow issues for the library that previously received funds from the city’s general fund monthly.
At least one major tax protest has been filed for this year’s taxes.
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Calumet Montana Refining has appealed to the Montana Tax Appeal Board, asking them to override the county tax appeal board’s denial and lower their taxable value for 2023 by about $189 million.
The Montana Department of Revenue valued Calumet’s land at $118,944; and the buildings, equipment and improvements at $299,428,094 for a total of $299,547,035.
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During a November hearing, Calumet asked the Cascade County Tax Appeal Board to lower their valuation for the buildings, equipment and improvements to $109,881,000 for a total of $109,999,944.
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That’s a reduction of $189.5 million.
For the first half of the budget yet, Calumet has protested $596,272.38 of city taxes, a number that will be replicated for the second half of the year, bringing the total to around $1.1 million of revenue the city won’t have access to during the protest process.
Last summer, the DOR estimated that the city had $1,510,213 in newly taxable properties, which is significantly higher than the finance department’s projection of $400,000. That projection was based on a 22-year average of newly taxable property and city staff said there’s no particular development project that can be identified for the spike.
With the charter amendment, the city can now levy up to 17 mills for library operations, in addition to seven mills the city gives to the library under a management agreement from 1993.
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Before the June vote, the charter allowed up to two mills for library operations that voters had approved previously.
Last summer, two residents filed a lawsuit against the city over the library levy ballot language. That lawsuit is still pending in district court.
During the Jan. 2 work session, Tryon said that he wanted to consider updating the 1993 library management agreement and take back those seven mills for public safety needs after the city’s public safety levy and bond both failed in November.
He asked McIntyre how she would feel about the commission taking away some of those mills.
She said that’s a conversation that will need to be had between the city and the library board and that she hopes the community will see improvements in library services because of the additional funding.
“I’m not making any judgements on what you do or what you have done,” Tryon said, “but we have to look at money, maybe we have to look at the management agreement with the library. We have dire needs in public safety.”
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In November, voters rejected a $13 million public safety operations levy and a $21.17 million public safety infrastructure bond.
Since the levy failed, officials have been reviewing budgets and resources, but police and fire officials have indicated that there will be significant changes coming as a result.
Tryon said he intends to look at that agreement and put those seven mills into public safety.
McIntyre said staff brought up that management agreement in December 2022 and the commission consensus was to continue that agreement and the seven mills of financial support for library operations.
If commissioners wanted to review that agreement, she asked that they remember a majority voted for additional library funding.
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Tryon said he didn’t think that many voters understood the nuances of library funding and that money was needed for public safety.
No other commissioners specifically mentioned the management agreement during the work session.
Commissioner Joe McKenney said that the library was finding there are challenges with success as well as failure and that staff and the board were working through them.
Commissioner Susan Wolff said they’d be looking at difficult budget decisions but need to do something about public safety.
