The $75.2 million budget in place for Flathead County for the fiscal year that began July 1 includes four new positions, salary increases of 2.5 percent for most employees, which total $654,811, and capital improvements totaling $4.1 million.

The budget is down from $78.9 million for the previous fiscal year. The biggest reason for the drop in expenditures is the absence of major construction projects, county Administrator Mike Pence said. The county spent $2.7 million renovating the courthouse in 2011 and also built a $155,000 records storage building.

County commissioners approved the budget last month after being reminded by Pence that the June approval gives the commissioners the authority to spend money for the first few months of the 2012-13 fiscal year until the final budget is approved in August or September, after county officials receive tax valuation data from the state.

The 2.5 percent salary increase was given to the elected county officials, too, boosting annual pay for county commissioners, the county treasurer and the county clerk to $63,741. The clerk of district court’s salary for the current fiscal year is $61,741. The salary for the superintendent of schools is $62,141.

The Department 1 justice of the peace salary is $73,959; the Department 2 justice of the peace salary is $76,874. The sheriff gets paid $72,667 and the county attorney’s salary is $98,276.

Not all of the union contract negotiations have been completed yet, but the budget is based on an average 2.5 percent pay increase for union members, too.

As they reviewed budget requests, county commissioners declined to approve three new positions in the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff had requested $54,212 to pay the bulk of the salary for an employee who would focus on preventing the abuse of prescription drugs in the county. The salary package would have been supplemented with $15,000 in grant money.

Pence said the position existed previously in the sheriff’s office but was eliminated.

“I just don’t see it,” Commissioner Cal Scott said. “If it were an essential service, if there weren’t an opportunity to reassign the former person. I don’t want to be in the position of micromanaging the sheriff’s office, but I don’t know, if it’s an outside hire.”

Commissioner Pam Holmquist said she couldn’t support the request.

Commissioners also said “no” to a $19,176 request for a sworn employee contract position in the Sheriff’s Office and to a $45,666 request for a contract position for a non-sworn sheriff’s office employee.

Commissioners gave the OK to a request from Clerk of District Court Peg Allison to hire an employee for $45,297.

“Peg made an impassioned plea and an excellent presentation,” Pence said. “I can’t really argue with her, it’s a legitimate request.”

With the addition of a fourth district judge, the county last year agreed to increase the county attorney’s staff to deal with the additional workload. Another judge means more work in the clerk’s office, too, he said.

“It probably does warrant the position because of the increased workload,” Commissioner Dale Lauman said.

A half-time position was approved in the records preservation division of the clerk’s office, totaling $20,290.

“We’ve been paying out for contract services” for help in records preservation, Pence said. “We might as well pay for a real employee.”

“I would support that,” Lauman said.

Commissioners also agreed to increase the fairgrounds salary budget by $13,000 and hire one full-time employee. The person will earn more than $13,000, Pence said, because the money that had been allocated to pay for contract labor will instead be directed to this position’s salary.

Holmquist said she “was not on board” with the fairgrounds request. “But it only takes two,” she said. The request was supported by Lauman and Scott.

No decision has been made about a request for a half-time code enforcement employee in the planning office. The estimated cost of that position is $26,833.

Pence supports the request from county Planning Director BJ Grieve.

Grieve told commissioners that his office receives a lot of complaints from the public about all sorts of planning and zoning issues. If a code enforcement worker could be hired, that person could follow up on those complaints quickly and devote the time that some of the complicated complaints require.

In a subsequent round of discussion on the issue, Holmquist asked if the position could be reclassified from a planner 1 to a lower-level and lower paying position.

She also pointed out that since Grieve made it a priority to address complaints, he has decreased the unresolved complaint list from 161 to 21.

“Because things are pretty level, you have to convince me you need this person since your staff already cut it back,” she said.

Grieve reminded commissioners that about 100 of the complaints on that list from about seven months ago were “low-hanging fruit” and easily resolved.

“The ones that are left will consume a tremendous amount of time if they are to be resolved,” he said, citing as an example one complaint about community decay that dates back to 2004.

Grieve said the new employee would deal with more than just complaints. The code compliance officer also would follow up on permit violations and compliance with various permits such as lakeshore and floodplain permits and variances, Grieve said.

“It takes a lot of staff time,” to make repeat visits to sites to make sure the property owner complied with requirements of a permit, he said. Often, permits issued by the county include language indicating the county will inspect the property after work is done, Grieve said.

As an example, Grieve said conditional use permits expire after a year, but often people start their project after that year, which is a zoning violation. If a code enforcement employee was added to the staff, that person could follow up on those situations to ensure procedures are being followed, Grieve said.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.