Stipe addresses issues at Pachyderm meeting

Lake County Commissioner Dave Stipe addressed the county’s stance on trust land and the county budget while serving as the guest speaker at the Lake County Pachyderm Club meeting last Friday, July 13. The meeting was held at the Polson Rural Fire Hall on Regatta Road near the fairgrounds.

Perhaps the most heightened issues dealt with by the county commissioners on a regular basis are laws governing trust land, and the association between the county and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

“We walk away with a better understanding of what’s going on,” a club members said near the conclusion of Stipe’s discussion of trust land issues.

“I don’t have a ‘complete’ understanding of it all,” Stipe responded. “Everybody who lives within the interior borders of a reservation are at the mercy of Congress.”

County budget

After the meeting, Stipe spoke about the county budget, which is always impacted by valuation and property tax collected. Pachyderm Club President Frank Delgato also provided input.

“There is a shift in taxes. When land (landowners) quits paying taxes. You either start providing less services or you shift the tax burden to the remaining taxpayers,” Stipe said. “The school districts completely shifted. By law, they have to provide services. So when Kerr Dam went off the tax roll, the Polson School District that was affected most by it just shifted that loss onto the rest of the taxpayers in the district.

“It depends on what district you’re in,” Stipe said. “Kerr Dam going off the tax roll had a miniscule affect on somebody in Charlo, but it had a great effect in Polson.”

“The county budget is supported by our taxes,” Delgado said. “So if the county budget goes up, they can only ‘raise’ taxes in order to provide the services that we need.”

“We don’t get a lot of input on the budget because people don’t identify with the different things (it involves),” Stipe said.

The commissioner referred to the county’s licensing department, which is inundated early each summer with boat registrations and plate purchases, along with common vehicle licensing. This creates long lines to the licensing counter in the courthouse. “There is a monetary gain ... it’s not all bad,” Stipe said. “It’s something we have to deal with.”

Property tax issues

“Lake County was the first county to make (property) tax bills the way all the counties (in Montana) use,” he said. “We broke it out so you knew, this much of the taxes is going to the school district. So when you go vote on a school bond, that is going to affect your taxes. This much (tax money) goes to soil conservation, this much to county roads. So we try to be open with people. For the most part, only 20 percent of your tax money goes to county functions.

“It’s split up in three parts,” Stipe explained. “The main county government, which is mainly the courthouse, and then roads and police. Ninety percent of the 20 percent ... and the roads is where we stole the most from (in balancing the budget). That is how we responded to not having enough money, you can only have so big of a crew, you have gravel roads where you should have paved roads.

“Ninety percent of the roads in our county should be paved for how much traffic is on them, because they create dust. From in town or on the lake you’re breathing air from the ‘urban flats’. Once it’s in the air it floats around and we breathe it.”

Stipe explained how the county addresses gravel road issues.

“That’s the place you can cheat, because when I dump a load of gravel on a road, you don’t immediately see it fail,” the commissioner said. “If we don’t have a policeman, you know it. You call and they don’t come, you see it.”

Stipe believes Lake County needs “twice” the budget for the roads department. “You keep stealing from one of your big resources like the roads. “We need twice the budget in roads ... It takes us three days to plow everybody.It might be three days before you get out of your house,” he said, and the goal is to have all appropriate areas plowed within one day. “We’re not anywhere close to it (the 24-hour plowing goal).”

Nelson to speak at

July 27 meeting

Delgado spoke about the mission of the local Pachyderm Club. “Educating the public on issues that affect the community,” Delgado said after the meeting. “We believe in the Republican principles. We try to support their agenda ... We provide speakers like Dave (Stipe), the commissioners.”

Delgado indicated that landfill manager Dave Nelson will be the guest speaker at the next Lake County Pachyderm Club meeting, at noon Friday, July 27.

“He will let us know about issues associated with trash. What are we going to do with all this? We are not allowed to do certain things (pertaining to trash) ... That’s what we do, education,” Delgado said.