The Kalispell City Council is slated to adopt its final budget for the 2015 fiscal year and set the city’s mill levy at tonight’s meeting.

The overall budget amounts to $45,791,580, slightly less than the 2014 budget of $46,822,000.

“I’d say it’s very similar to last year’s budget,” City Manager Doug Russell said.

The spending plan does not increase the city’s roster of about 180 full-time equivalent positions, but it does leave room for another person to be hired in the building department if the workload calls for it.

The budget includes a plan to privatize part of the city’s forestry program, following the council’s move to privatize operations at the city airport during the 2014 fiscal year.

It also provides for a 20 percent reserve in the city’s $10 million general fund, which has been a goal the council has been striving toward the last couple of years.

The council will consider setting a city property-tax levy of 187.8 mills, with a mill value of $39,522 that will generate about $7,420,000 in tax revenue.

“We’re not levying the maximum that we could,” Russell said, noting that the levy will be 1.6 mills below a cap imposed by state law.

The levy is partly determined by property valuations that have increased over the last year. The result is the city will receive about $120,000 in new revenue from growth in the city property tax base.

That revenue helps offset cost increases the city incurs, Russell said. 

One cost increase that’s accounted for in the budget involves pay raises that average around 3 percent for the city’s union and nonunion employees.

As part of the budget approval process, the council will consider a series of resolutions for assessments that will be forwarded to the county. The assessments cover various aspects of city operations, such as an assessment for the city light maintenance district that is expected to generate about $236,000.

The council has been and will probably continue to discuss a proposal to expand the light district assessments to a broader range of property taxpayers. The assessments are currently charged to taxpayers that are within 300 feet of a city street light.

The proposal is being considered because of a view that all city residents benefit from the street-light system so the cost of maintaining that system should be more broadly shared.

However, the council may consider exemptions. 

For example, subdivisions where residents have paid for privately installed and maintained lighting systems may be considered for exemptions.

Russell noted that it is highly unlikely there will be enough time for the council to adopt any changes before the light maintenance district assessment is submitted to the county this year. Therefore, if the district is expanded, the effect on taxpayers won’t happen until next year. He said the council may discuss the expansion proposal at a workshop in the near future.

Also at tonight’s meeting, the council will consider granting two permits allowing for the sale and consumption of alcohol at two upcoming events.

One is for a Performer Party for the Mountain Madness Air Show, with the party scheduled to be held at Depot Park on Aug. 29 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The permit is requested by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and the Flathead Convention and Visitor Bureau.

The other permit is requested by the Kalispell Downtown Association for the annual Taste of Kalispell event at the Museum at Central School on Sept. 6.

The council meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall on First Avenue East.