Tryon renews proposal to review library management agreement; lacks support from other commissioners
At the end of their Jan. 16 meeting, Commissioner Rick Tryon said he had a new proposal.
He said that he believed they had an obligation to review and have a public conversation about the 1993 management agreement between the city and library board before they get into the budget process.
The agreement automatically renews annually on April 20 unless 90 days notice of termination is given by either party before the renewal date.
The agreement includes seven mills from the city general fund to the library fund.
During their Jan. 2 work session, Tryon proposed taking those seven mills from the library agreement and putting them toward public safety.
In today’s dollars, the seven mills equate to roughly $900,000, Tryon said.
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For comparison, in the current budget, commissioners opted to take the full inflationary factor for property tax increases allowed by state law, and the full permissive medical levy to offset health insurance costs. Those options combined generated about $804,171 in additional revenue for the city in this year’s budget, according to city financial documents.
On Jan. 12, he sent an email to the other commissioners, the city manager and library director, saying that he didn’t have a consensus of support to pursue that action.
During the Jan. 16 meeting, Tryon said he was asking commissioners to schedule a special meeting for Jan. 19 and to direct staff to draft a resolution for consideration that would give the library 90 days notice of the city’s intent to opt out of the agreement.
“The intention is not to strip the seven mills from the library agreement,” Tryon said. “It’s a chance to give everyone a 90-day period to look at and review the 1993 agreement between the library board and the city.”
He said the special meeting would be a chance to consider terminating the agreement and then spend the 90 days drafting a new or amended agreement, or keep the same agreement.
In that time, Tryon said he hoped there could be a conversation about the terms of the agreement and funding level.
He said conditions have changed in the 30 years the agreement has been in place.
Tryon said public safety was nearing a “crisis” level and they need options on the table to increase funding for those departments.
In the current budget, the city’s total revenue for taxes is $30.17 million.
The total public safety expenses in this year’s budget is $30.8 million.
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Because of increased property values from the Montana Department of Revenue, it appeared the library might receive more funding through the levy, but some of that additional revenue hasn’t been realized for the library or the as a whole since Calumet Montana Refining has filed an appeal which equates to roughly $1 million in city tax revenue that isn’t available to the city until the appeal is decided.
Tryon said that in the discussion of the library management agreement, he wanted to hear from the Great Falls Police Department, Great Falls Fire Rescue and the city legal department on their needs for the upcoming fiscal year.
City departments present their needs and what’s considered the “above and beyond” requests over level funding annually as part of the budget process. Those documents and requests are publicly available during the budget discussions annually.
City Manager Greg Doyon said that he’d be asking commissioners if they wanted a different approach to the budget development process this year.
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He said a special meeting was scheduled for February with public safety departments to discuss the impact of the failed public safety levy with commissioners.
Commissioner Susan Wolff said that public safety needs “are more than dire,” but that she didn’t support Tryon’s proposal.
She said she wasn’t available to meet on Friday and Commissioner Shannon Wilson was out of town so a special meeting on Friday wouldn’t be what she considered a “fair conversation or decision making process.”
Wolff said through ride alongs and time spent with fire and police over the last two years that she probably knew more about those department’s current needs than anyone else on the commission.
She said she’s “extremely concerned” about safety and health of those working in public safety.
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Citizens chose not to vote for the public safety levy and bond for “all kinds of reasons” but said she gets frustrated when she hears people say police should be on 10th Avenue South for speeding.
“This is a dire situation people,” she said.
Wolff said she’s also frustrated that the police and fire departments spend considerable time dealing with the church encampment downtown a few years ago but that the downtown business community seemed to forget that effort.
“Support from businesses wasn’t there during our safety levy. Where were people in this community,” she said.
Wolff said the city has to find funding for public safety and she wants to take the year looking for it and get the community involved but that she didn’t support Tryon’s request.
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Mayor Cory Reeves said he supported Tryon’s initiative because he had adjusted it from his original proposal.
He said he’s open to discussion but not of stripping mills from the library.
Reeves said he’s heard rumors that the library board wants to separate from the city but didn’t know if there was any truth to it.
There’s been no indication that the library wants to make such a substantial change during any library board meetings over the last two years or from staff.
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All library staff are city employees under the current structure. The city funds the majority of the library operations budget. Cascade County contributes $177,000 annually, a level that’s been unchanged since 2011. The county also contributes to the libraries in Belt and Cascade.
Commissioner Joe McKenney said that once they go down this path, “there’s no such thing as for discussion purposes only.”
He said the library came to the previous commission some time ago about the need for additional funds.
McKenney said it’s a hard nut to crack in terms of asking for increases but the commission agreed to put the question on the ballot.
“The library went to the community and they did crack that nut, the community spoke. I will always respect the will of the voters,” he said.
Commissioners then asked the public for increased funding for public safety.
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“We failed. The community spoke once again,” he said.
McKenney said the city could discuss the agreement with the library any time, “but to come at the last minute, I’m saying I’m not with you Commissioner Tryon. I don’t think we should do that.”
Tryon said that he didn’t have consensus so the proposal wouldn’t move forward.
He said he disagreed with Wolf and McKenney’s position, but respected it.
He said he hopes they have ideas going into the budget.
“To be frank, I am fresh out of ideas on how we fund our public safety,” Tryon said.
He said the city can’t ask taxpayers to sacrifice when “we’re not willing to ask our own departments to sacrifice.”
