Polson sees uptick in road-repair revenues

Better roads appear to be coming down the pike for Polson, based on some budget amendments approved by the Polson City Commission at its regular meeting last Monday, Sept. 18.

With final mill calculations in from the Department of Revenue, it appears that the biggest beneficiary will be those driving on Polson streets. Sizable increases in street-related funds include a one-time-only infusion of $764,299 for transportation assistance (thanks to two bills passed by the Montana Legislature), plus nearly $69,000 in gas-tax funding.

There was also an unexpected revenue surplus in the Tax Increment Financing district of $619,571, on top of approximately $321,000 already in that fund. The commission made a commitment this summer to spend those dollars primarily on infrastructure.

“We could be fixing a lot of streets around here,” said Commissioner Brodie Moll.

Lee Mannicke – a citizen watchdog, especially when it comes to budget matters – said he had looked at school, county and city levies in an effort to understand the TIF increase. “I hope you’re right, but I don’t think you have $941,000 dollars coming this year,” he said.

City Manager Ed Meece replied that the city used numbers supplied by the Department of Revenue in August and had sent their calculations to the auditor for review.

“We’re going to bring you a spending plan in the next month or so,” Meece told the commission. “But we’re not going to start spending that money until we’ve locked these dollars down.”

When the preliminary budget was approved in June, Meece told commissioners that the city was facing a “structural imbalance in the general fund,” of around $113,000.

With new mill calculations on hand from the Department of Revenue, the city is anticipating an increase of $21,345 in the general fund; $3,052 in the permissive levy, which pays for health insurance; and $88,901 in the police levy, which will allow the city to reinstate a full-time police officer’s position that was cut in June.

An additional $31,000 also came from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, which pays the city to have its wildland fire equipment and personnel on standby to fight local wildfires. That income is allocated toward replacing an engine within the city’s fleet.

On the negative side of the balance sheet, the city also faces a sizeable increase in insurance rates. Property insurance went up $13,408 and liability insurance rose by $63,117.00 for a total increase of $76,525.

The city buys insurance from the Montana Municipal Interlocal Association, and Meece told the commission that Polson is looking for ways to reduce those expenses, including raising deductibles, additional safety training and risk management.

“I think insurance is legal racketeering,” said Mayor Eric Huffine. “They never lose.”

After reviewing the budget amendments during a public hearing, the adjustments were unanimously passed by the commission.

In other business:

Meece told the commission that Ray McGonigle St. Ignatius had recently been hired to manage the Polson Bay Golf Club Restaurant. He called the volunteer firefighter, pastor and former restaurant owner “a welcome addition to the team.” The restaurant is open year-round and recently hired four servers.

Meece also praised the response of the Polson Fire Department and other local agencies to a house fire Aug. 24. The crew pumped 82,000 gallons of water on the blaze and was able to keep it from spreading to nearby homes. Although the structure was a total loss, there were no injuries.

The commission voted to cancel elections in Wards 1 and 3, where incumbents Jen Ruggless and Carolyn Pardini, respectively, are the only candidates.

In Ward 2, where incumbent Tony Isbell did not file for reelection, David Coffman and Lisa Rehard filed as write-in candidates. Their names won’t appear on the ballot, but voters will have the opportunity to fill in the blank with their preferred candidate.