The Flathead County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a preliminary operating budget that would reduce county spending by about 2.1%, and voted 2-1 to accept nearly $20.2 million in federal pandemic relief and economic stimulus funds.

The commissioners — Republicans Pam Holmquist, Brad Abell and Randy Brodehl — also unanimously approved a five-year capital improvement plan and accepted a separate $4.4 million portion of federal aid earmarked for water and sewer projects in the county.

The 2021-22 fiscal year began July 1, and the county's preliminary operating budget totals about $115.8 million, smaller than the current budget of $118.3 million primarily because the county no longer runs a health clinic.

"I always want to thank our management team because they do a great job of holding the line [on spending]," Holmquist said Tuesday. "I think the taxpayer can be thankful that we have the team that we have."

The numbers are expected to change slightly after the Montana Department of Revenue finishes sending out property valuations, which the county will use to calculate revenue and mill levies. The commissioners will hold a final budget vote in August.

"I just want to remind the public that this is a preliminary budget approval," Brodehl said. "This is not the budget approval because we won't get the final numbers until sometime in August."

THE COUNTY was able to shave millions of dollars from its budget after relinquishing management of the Flathead Community Health Center. Established in 2007 as a division of the Flathead City-County Health Department, the clinic spun off at the end of May to operate as a private nonprofit with a new name: the Greater Valley Health Center.

The clinic's budget under county management was about $5.9 million. But the county also recently took over management of the Flathead Emergency Communications Center, after voters in November passed a ballot measure changing the funding structure for local 911 service. That brought the total reduction in the preliminary budget for the next fiscal year to about $2.48 million.

The budget includes funding for three major building projects planned during the next fiscal year. There's $2 million for an ongoing expansion of the county landfill. There's $750,000 to start a remodel of Courthouse West, which houses the county Motor Vehicles Department. And there's $5.2 million for the ongoing remodel of the North Campus Building, the future home of a half-dozen county departments.

The budget also includes a $2 million increase in capital expenditures, a $170,000 increase for bridge maintenance, a $441,000 increase for a planned expansion of the county animal shelter, a $249,000 increase for administering elections and a $1.2 million increase for solid waste disposal. The county would spend about $1.3 million less on roads due to fewer planned road projects.

The commissioners have approved a 2% cost-of-living increase for the county's 539 employees, which would amount to a payroll increase of roughly $1.4 million. The preliminary budget also would add the equivalent of 5.73 full-time positions during the next fiscal year.

The new positions would include a full-time land specialist in the county's plat room, a full-time finance specialist, a full-time coroner and a half-time code compliance technician in the Planning and Zoning Department. Other new part-time jobs with the county would include a seasonal environmental health program assistant, a seasonal mosquito technician, a landfill attendant and a container site monitor.

Finance Director Amy Dexter said the county will be able to maintain cash reserves equal to roughly 25% of total expenditures, which is necessary because the county doesn't collect property taxes until November.

"We have to float ourselves from July to November, so we always have to have some cash reserves," she said.

HOLMQUIST PRAISED the county's long-term budgeting process for capital improvement projects, saying past iterations of the five-year plan have helped the county save money instead of issuing bonds for projects, such as the renovation of the historic courthouse in Kalispell.

Abell, who started his first term as a commissioner in January, concurred, saying the process has been "one of the pleasant surprises in my short time in government."

"If all of government ran like Flathead County did," he contended, "we wouldn't be trillions of dollars in debt."

During the public comment period of Tuesday's meeting, though, Lakeside resident Margaret Davis urged the commissioners to add a Bigfork library construction project to the capital improvement plan, calling the current facility "grossly inadequate." She also called for the county to provide more funding for the whole ImagineIF Libraries system.

"A flatline budget for the library is not something to brag about," Davis said. "If it's the commission's policy to slowly starve the library system, we might as well be upfront about it."

Davis said the library system needs more staff and better facilities to continue serving a rapidly growing population.

"I think the COVID experience during the last year demonstrated very positively that the library exceeded its peers in the state and many other government agencies in responding to public needs," she said. "It offered educational support for families at home with kids who couldn't go to school. It offered support for home-schooling families. It met the special needs of people who could not, for one reason or another, wear a mask and had special opening hours for those folks."

FLATHEAD COUNTY received about $20.2 million in direct support from the American Rescue Plan that Congress passed in March. The other $4.4 million also came from the federal relief package, but it was initially allocated to the state of Montana; the Legislature packaged it as a grant earmarked for water and sewer projects.

Brodehl voted against accepting the $20.2 million from the Treasury Department, saying he didn't want to add to the national debt, though he did vote to accept the smaller portion that was channeled through the state.

"I have some significant concerns about the ARPA money. There's $20 million listed here, but it's not $20 million of money. It's $20 million of debt. And every one of us have heard the stories of our national debt and how it's increasing," Brodehl said. "I just can't support us adding to the national debt just because we can. I will do my best to work within whatever we decide, but I think it's a bad idea to accept the $20 million."

Holmquist and Abell said they shared Brodehl's concern but did not see a practical reason to reject the funding.

"If we don't take this money, it's not going to reduce the national debt. They are going to allot it to someone else. I have a responsibility to the taxpayer, and if I can help the taxpayer in any way, that's my role here, no matter how I feel here individually," Holmquist said.

"I think it would just be reallocated to somebody else, and Flathead County would come out the loser," Abell said. "I see where we can use this money. If we're going to mortgage our children's future, I think we should at least have infrastructure in place, that they're paying for something that they can actually go use and see. I think septic and water will lend itself to provide more affordable housing for our kids and grandkids living in the valley."

The commissioners voted Thursday to set up a grant program to distribute the $4.4 million to water and sewer districts within the county. Dexter, the county's finance director, said the county will use portions of the $20.2 million to help districts match the funding they receive for each project, as the Legislature required.

The commissioners haven't yet decided how they will spend the remaining portion of the $20.2 million. It can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including staff and services aimed at mitigating COVID-19 and replacing revenue lost due to the pandemic.

Assistant editor Chad Sokol may be reached at 406-758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com.