Flathead County will spend $44.4 million over the next five years to upgrade and build new county facilities, including a new main library in Kalispell and a new branch library in Bigfork.

The commissioners unanimously approved the capital improvement plan on Monday prior to adopting the county’s preliminary budget for the coming year. Finance Director Sandy Carlson pointed out that the plan is a roadmap for planning purposes and doesn’t in itself authorize spending.

The plan pencils in $16 million for a 55,000-square-foot new main library in Kalispell for the 2017 fiscal year, citing a 62 percent increase in use over the past five years. A new main library has been talked about for at least a decade. In 2004 an outside consultant completed a study showing a woeful shortage of space and resources in the current library.

Four years ago architectural designs were drafted for possible building designs, but the project stalled.

The capital improvement plan calls for $1 million to build a new Bigfork branch library, also in the 2017 fiscal year. The Bigfork library also has been cramped for space for many years and has no possibility of expansion at its current site.

Not in the plan is a new library facility for Columbia Falls. 

The commissioners last year withdrew a $1.9 million earmark for a new library in Columbia Falls in 2017. The remaining $100,000 for Columbia Falls was moved out of the capital plan and is being kept in this year’s budget for upgrades to the existing branch library at Columbia Falls City Hall.

For the coming year the county will spend $6.8 million on capital outlays. The biggest expenditure is $2.1 million to buy 14 properties for future expansion of the county landfill, plus another $275,000 for a new green-box collection site at Essex.

The fairgrounds is scheduled to spend $652,258 this year on improvements to the grounds and repairs to buildings and $60,000 for infrastructure engineering services.

The county general fund will be tapped for $881,513 for capital improvements, including $163,000 for a new maintenance shop and office, $284,700 for information technology and $179,694 for general building and site improvements.

The road department will spend $230,000 on building additions and $72,000 on equipment, and the sheriff’s office will spend $746,100, of which $390,600 will go for vehicles and $300,000 is earmarked for jail renovations.

A long-awaited new facility for the county’s Agency on Aging services is in the capital improvement plan for 2015, and $1.5 million is slated for renovation of the historic Flathead County Jail building over the next two years.

The commissioners on Monday also unanimously approved the preliminary budget for fiscal year 2014, which began July 1. The $78.4 million budget is up from $75.1 million last year, and includes a 3 percent pay raise for elected officials and 3.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment for other county workers.

The county has a 27.1 percent cash reserve totaling close to $9 million going into the new fiscal year.

The work force now totals 525.67 full-time-equivalent employees, up about 3.5 employees from last year. New positions include a full-time assistant health administrator, full-time information technology network support employee, a part-time records retention position and a part-time fairgrounds employee.

The Office of Emergency Services decreased its staff by 0.5 full-time equivalent by merging the 911 director with the dispatch manager position. Other employee increases were incremental alterations paid for by various grants.

The budget will be finalized sometime in August.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.