Whitefish continues to sort through the details of its proposed $65.9 million city budget for fiscal year 2016.

The Whitefish police and public works departments had their turn with city council last week at the second budget work session.

The budget, up $25.4 million over last year, shows the potential for an increase in property taxes. Under the proposed budget, the owner of a $275,000 residential home would pay $97.61 more per year.

Council held a public hearing Monday and will hold another work session on July 20, before voting on the final budget Aug. 17.

Police department

The proposed budget calls for a 2.3 percent pay increase for city workers. The city faces collective bargaining negotiations with the Whitefish police union this year.

Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial asked councilors to consider what other police departments pay officers in comparison to Whitefish when looking at salaries.

Kalispell, Flathead County Sheriff’s office, and the highway patrol all pay starting officers about $24 per hour, he noted, while Whitefish officers start out at $20 per hour.

“We might not be a large city, but we have to deal with 25,000 people because of the tourists,” Dial said. “A starting officer with a family of four would qualify for Habitat for Humanity.”

Also in the budget, the police department would like to continue funding a school resource officer. The position is funded by a federal grant along with matching funds from the Whitefish School District.

“That has been very successful,” Dial said.

The police budget also includes the purchase of a new patrol car at a cost of $27,000.

Dial said the department tries to replace one vehicle per year. Patrol cars average 75,000 miles annually.

The police budget calls for spending $17,000 this fiscal year on operation and maintenance. Dial said the hope is that fuel prices will stay down, keeping costs down. The department also buys fuel-efficient vehicles to help keep costs lower, he noted.

Councilor Richard Hildner said he would be interested in seeing the purchase of body cameras for officers included in a future budget.

Dial said body cameras can be a good tool, but are getting attention because of the poor decisions of a few officers and he “doesn’t know if the cameras would have made any difference.”

The cost of the cameras, he noted, are about $500 per officer and the department would need the resources to download and maintain the video.

Public works

The public works department is budgeting to spend about $1.1 million on street improvements in 2016.

The city has a backlog of about three years worth of overlays with work on those expected to begin later this month.

A top priority is work on the south end of Central Avenue with an overlay and sidewalk repairs at a cost of about $252,000. The city is also budgeting $200,000 to repair a slump on Central at the intersection with Sixth Street.

The budget calls for spending $415,000 on a water main replacement for the same section of the street.

Interim Public Works Director Karin Hilding noted that the water main has been leaking for several years and the road is slumping toward the river.

“It’s a large sum of money to do the reconstruction, but it’s important,” she said.

Also in the street fund is the purchase of a $30,000 snow plow.

A public works position will also be added, with the employee mostly dedicated to plowing in winter and street maintenance in the summer. The cost of the employee is about $60,000.

“We had a lot of complaints last winter and fell behind on snow plowing,” City Manager Chuck Stearns said. “We also fell behind on striping of the streets.”

When the city annexed property in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the street crews were never increased even though road miles increased significantly, he noted.

The city is budgeting about $670,000 in the stormwater fund.

Included in the budget is drainage improvements on Fourth Street. This project was started with the construction of the new Whitefish High School.

Work will also take place on Crestwood and Parkway Drive, Monegan Road, Armory Road and at the Riverside Park stormwater treatment pond.

Hilding explained that a new storm drain along Monegan Road will divert water so it no longer saturates the road bed, but will maintain the pond along the edge of the road.

“The pond has been close to going over the road the last two years,” she said. “There will be a storm drain that will take the water down to the wastewater plant.”

In the water fund, the budget includes seven improvement projects at a total cost of $1.84 million. Some of the projects have been carried over for several years.

One such project is work to upgrade the water main across the Columbia Avenue bridge, estimated at $150,000.

While it could be delayed again until next summer, Stearns said it will be important to get that work completed to prepare for the redevelopment of the old North Valley Hospital site.

The wastewater fund, shows improvements at a cost of $3.2 million.

The city’s impact fees will pay for a portion of the water and wastewater improvements. The impact fees are one-time charges for new development that increases the demand for city services. It applies to new units in subdivisions as well as new homes built on single lots and some remodeling.

The inflow and infiltration project is estimated at $1.25 million. A grant will provide $650,000 toward the total cost.

The project will do various repairs to prevent underground water from getting into the sewer lines. It’s very expensive for the city to treat the water that is already clean, Stearns noted.