City Commissioners spent several hours during a Feb. 12 special meeting hearing about the needs of the city’s public safety departments, which are largely unchanged from their levy asks last year. Asked whether they’d make their same levy ask in the upcoming budget process, most of the public safety department heads said no since it would be a waste of
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City officials reviewed their budget and finances during their Jan. 16 meeting. Melissa Kinzler, finance director, and Kirsten Wavra, deputy finance director, walked commissions through their revenues, expenses and budget drivers. The city is still recovering from COVID and did not take any tax increases during fiscal years 2021 and 2022, using $552,502 and $1,300,466, respectively, of fund balance. [View
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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
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City Commissioners will review their budget during their Jan. 16 work session. The city was doing quarterly budget reviews for awhile, but Tuesday’s review will cover the last quarter of the last fiscal year through the second quarter of the current fiscal year, according to the agenda. The city’s fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30. After months of
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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
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The city has hired a new information technology director. It’s also a new position within city government that commissioners approved in this year’s budget over the summer. City Manager Greg Doyon said during a December meeting that the city was IT dependent previously but it became more glaring during the pandemic that the city was dependent on technology and needed
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Great Falls Fire Rescue’s new 107-foot aerial apparatus has arrived in the city. The new ladder truck is currently undergoing a post-delivery inspection and GFFR crews are training on the apparatus this month. Once that’s completed, the new vehicle will be put into service and GFFR will retire it’s 1996 75-foot aerial engine. In March, City Commissioners voted to accept
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City Commissioners voted unanimously award contract to renovate the restrooms at the Park and Recreation offices during their Oct. 3 meeting. Commissioners approved the staff recommendation to award contracts to Wadsworth Builders, Hazardous Technologies, and TD&H. The project was identified as a priority project by commissioners in April 2022 for the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds. Commissioners awarded a
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City Manager Greg Doyon told Commissioners during their Oct. 3 meeting that the county elections office had given them the the opportunity to update tax estimates on the November ballot for the public safety levy. Doyon said the ballot language wasn’t changing, but the city was able to update the tax estimates with the new valuations from the state. Ballots
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Updated Sept. 26 City Commissioners unanimously adopted new fees for the Great Falls Animal Shelter during their Sept. 19 meeting. The changes “reflect the increasing costs of providing services to the public while recouping some of the costs to provide those services,” according to city staff. The change restructures animal registration to move from annual licensing to a lifetime only
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