The Daily Inter Lake

The public has an opportunity during a public hearing at 9:15 a.m. Thursday to comment on Flathead County's new capital improvement plan, which details more than $23 million in capital expenditures during the next five years.

Some of the larger capital items outlined in the plan include $612,000 to replace the Justice Center's aging climate-control system; $650,000 in new radios for the Sheriff's Office; $2.3 million in buses for Eagle Transit (86 percent of which would be contributed by the state).

Expenditures also include a number of replacement vehicles and copiers for various county departments, as well as heavy equipment for the Road and Solid Waste departments, and computer equipment.

The capital plan assumes that revenues will increase by 5 percent a year, while labor and operating costs will increase 4 percent a year.

If those projections are met, the money for most of the improvements would come out of each department's annual budget, without the need for additional revenue. If there's a shortfall, individual expenditures can be shifted to future years.

A handful of departments, however, will need help paying for their capital projects.

The county landfill, for example - which accounts for almost $14 million of the total $23 million in capital projects - would need to raise its annual assessment by 2.5 percent a year for the next 5 years to pay for all of its identified needs.

The Planning Office would need a $625,000 transfer from the general fund to pay for several specialized plans called for in the new growth policy, including a water-quality and water-resource-management plan, an affordable-housing plan, a transportation plan and a gravel/mineral resource extraction plan.

The Road Department faces the biggest shortfall: Its capital budget doesn't include money for gravel roads or pavement overlays, despite an annual maintenance requirement estimated to be as much as $7 million.

Moreover, the budget doesn't include replacements for the county's gravel crusher, asphalt plant or other equipment needed to continue paving roads.

Road Superintendent Charlie Johnson told the commissioners earlier this year that this capital budget "represents a major change in philosophy."

"We're going to be switching from a maintenance/construction road department to more of a maintenance department," Johnson said. "Eventually, we'll be out of the paving business entirely, including overlays. Some of this stuff is going to have to be contracted out."

County Administrator Mike Pence said the county will have to find new revenue sources to pay for paving and road maintenance, such as special improvement district, rural maintenance districts, impact fees and a voter-approved gas tax.

The capital improvement plan also doesn't resolve the county's building space dilemma, primarily because new revenue sources would be needed to pay for all the projects that have been identified.

For example, the plan indicates a new library in Kalispell could cost from $11 million to $16 million. A voter-approved bond, together with private fundraising, would be needed to pay for that project.

A bond would also be needed to expand the county jail. That could cost another $14 million or so. A new administration building is estimated to cost $13 million.

Although it doesn't solve all of these issues, the proposal is intended to help the county plan for the future and focus on what it can achieve.

"The county will no longer find itself simply reacting to capital requests, but will actually find itself being proactive," said the introduction to the plan.

Thursday's hearing takes place in the commissioners' hearing room in the Earl Bennett building, 800 S. Main, in Kalispell. Electronic copies of the document are available at the commissioners' Web site at http://co.flathead.mt.us/index.html