Flathead County is on track to adopt a final budget that raises property taxes by 3.2 percent and increases the county’s workforce by 14 full-time employees.

The county commissioners will hold a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. Thursday before voting on the final budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

Taxpayers owning homes with a $200,000 market value can expect about a $10 increase in property taxes this year. Last year taxes went up about $7.50 on a home of the same value.

The county will collect $36.5 million in property taxes, compared to $35.3 million during the last fiscal year.

Overall, the county budget is about $13 million less than last year because large building projects such as the South Campus Building and old jail facility have been completed. A total budget of $92 million is projected, compared to $105.2 million last year.

The county will continue to invest in its facilities, with a proposed capital improvement program of $10.4 million; that’s roughly $8.4 million less than last year

Departments that will receive the biggest allocations for capital improvements include public works, at just over $4 million, solid waste at $1.8 million and general government at just under $3 million.

The Earl Bennett Building will be renovated at a cost of $650,000 to better accommodate the City-County Health Department. A sky bridge connecting the Earl Bennett Building to the new South Campus Building will be completed in the coming year at a cost of about $700,000. Pence noted the sky bridge will be funded largely with federal health appropriations.

One of the most noteworthy items in the final budget is a plan to add the equivalent of 14 full-time employees, which will cost about $900,000 for the additional salaries and benefits.

Six of the new employees will be involved in law enforcement and the justice system, according to county Administrator Mike Pence’s budget message. The county will hire two more sheriff’s deputies, two detention center officers and two deputy county attorneys.

The Solid Waste Department will get 3.28 full-time equivalent employees. With full funding from federal or state grants an additional 2.65 employees will be added for public health programs. Mosquito Control will get a full-time employee. Other departments, including the animal shelter, library and Emergency Management Services, will get some additional part-time help.

Staffing was reduced slightly at the Records Preservation Office and Agency on Aging.

County employees will get 2 percent cost-of-living raises, which total $597,530.

The fiscal year 2017 budget includes the third year of the funding concept to levy dollars annually within the county’s legal authority to save for a new adult detention facility. About $5 million already has been saved and earmarked for a new jail.

The commissioners recently agreed to move forward with the renovation of the former County Attorney’s Office to create a 36-bed jail addition at the Justice Center.

“The project will commence as soon as possible and hopefully be completed sometime this winter,” Pence said, noting it is only a stopgap measure that won’t solve the jail overcrowding issue.

Over the coming the year, the county will proceed with a comprehensive planning process to explore site options for a new jail.

“We will identify both capital and operational costs in line-item-type detail,” Pence advised in his budget message. “We most often talk in terms of capital costs, but the future operational costs for an expanded facility that includes additional personnel far exceeds the initial capital cost over a period of years as these costs carry on in perpetuity.”

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