The Flathead County commissioners will hold a public hearing this morning on the $60.73 million budget proposed for fiscal 2006-07.

The preliminary budget is up 4.2 percent or $2.46 million from last year. Cash reserves, which are used to pay for some capital needs and to maintain cash flow between tax collections, would also increase by $1.65 million.

The property tax mill levy needed to support the budget and additional reserves is 137.656 mills. That's about 5 mills higher than last year.

If everything else stayed the same, the 5 mill increase would add about $16 to a homeowner's tax bill for every $100,000 in market value of their home. However, the actual change in property tax depends on a variety of factors, including assessments, statutory tax rates and levies for other taxing jurisdictions.

The proposed budget, which covers the period from July 1 through June 30, 2007, includes a permissive medical levy of almost $800,000. That's up almost $200,000 from last year.

The levy doesn't count towards the statutory cap on county mills. It's used to pay for the county's share of employee health insurance premiums.

A public hearing on this item takes place this morning as well.

Other major changes in the allocation of tax revenue include an additional $205,000 for workers compensation insurance costs; $275,000 more for employee retirement benefits; $227,000 for the Clerk of District Court; another $388,000 for the Road Department; and $423,000 more for the Sheriff's Office.

During a previous budget workshop, the commissioners also agreed to include $150,000 for potential wage and salary adjustments. That decision was based on the results of a wage survey which suggested that pay rates for several county job categories should be adjusted upwards to reflect current market conditions.

If all of the adjustments were implemented at one time, it would affect roughly a quarter of all county employees and bump the county's labor costs up by about $303,000 per year.

The commissioners were unwilling to give blanket approval to the wage recommendations. However, they tentatively agreed to include half the cost in this year's budget, without committing to spending the money and without indicating which positions would benefit if the money is spent.

Overall county turnover has been about 18 percent per year for the last two years. Human Resources Director Raeann Campbell indicated that some of this is related to wage rates, particularly for the lower-paid jobs.

The preliminary budget also includes almost $5 million in capital expenditures. More than half that amount is for the county landfill, which is funded entirely through fee revenue, rather than property taxes.

If approved, the proposed mill levy would raise $23.4 million in property taxes, enough to pay for almost 39 percent of the total county budget. Fees, grants, cash reserves and other non-tax revenue sources would pay for the remainder.

Copies of the preliminary budget are available for public inspection at the Clerk and Recorder Office at the county courthouse.

Today's budget hearing is scheduled at 9 a.m. in the community room in the basement of the Flathead County Justice Center, 920 S. Main St. in Kalispell.

The hearing on the permissive medical levy will follow at 10 a.m., in the same location.

The commissioners will have to approve a final budget at some point after today's hearings, but that item hasn't been scheduled yet.