Lincoln County aims to reduce budget by $900,000

In the aftermath of several districts over-taxing residents by $1.6 million over the last 15 years, the 2014-15 fiscal year Lincoln County budget has some significant cuts which could impact county services.

The county’s appropriation budget has been trimmed to $14.4 million, a cut of $900,000 from last year’s budget. A preliminary budget in July showed just $136,000 in budget cuts.

Lincoln County’s budget has shrunk by $2.9 million in the last six years, and deep cuts are likely in the future for the ailing county.

Some of the next fiscal year cuts include the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department cutting more than $200,000 and the road department slashing more than $75,000.

For the lawmen, that could mean the loss of two sworn deputies. The department lost $200,000 last year as well.

Sixteen other departments cut at least five percent of their budgets, and 10 full and part time positions remain empty in the wake of a hiring freeze.

Tammy Lauer, Lincoln County clerk and recorder, said the cuts weren’t as small as they looked at first.

"Five percent doesn’t sound like a lot, but some of these departments are pretty low already," she said. "We’ve lost some employees, permanent and seasonal, and that can add up to a couple hundred thousand dollars as well."

The full savings from the cut employees will show up on future budgets, but are already saving the county money, something desperately needed after excess taxes had been collected from the county for more than a decade.

The road department cut, while a significant drop, is far less than the proposal in July to cut $400,000, half of which would come from Libby. Instead, the county commissioners saw the need to keep the funds up to finish some projects started in the spring.

Road Department Supervisor Marc McCully said in June that plans to cut the road department’s $3.8 million budget would leave around half of Lincoln County’s current road projects graveled and unfinished.

County Commissioner Tony Berget was hesitant to cut the road budget as it had been slashed the year previously.

Lauer said the road department is now on notice they could lose funding again next year, and large road projects are unlikely to be undertaken in Lincoln County’s near future.

This would be a largely-moot point if the county could count on the $4 million annual appropriation from the Secure Rural Schools Program, which itself covered the road department.

In 2013, Lincoln County didn’t receive funds until October, well after the budget had been established factoring in the loss of the Rural Schools money.

"It was just a happy thing last year when that money came in," Lauer said. "But this year doesn’t look good."

Lincoln County will received 25 percent of forest receipts from logging done in the county if it does not receive the federal Secure Rural Schools funding, out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Lauer said these receipts will likely amount to $360,000, a massive drop from the $4 million the county has relied on in the past.

"If we don’t get the Rural Schools funding, if we can’t find other revenue, we’ll be in bad shape," she said. "We have about three or four years before we’re in trouble. We’ll be down the essential services and lose a lot of luxuries we enjoy, just like other counties without a buffer."

Lincoln County has, almost uniquely among Montana counties, built up a sizable cash reserve. More than $15.3 million is available should the county need it. Former county commissioners Marianne Roose, Rita Windom and John Konzen tucked away some of the Secure Rural Schools funding in years past to build up the surplus funds.

Of that money, more than $200,000 had been used since the 2013 budget was drawn up.

Another hindrance for the county is reimbursing all the funds they exceeded in taxes in the last 15 years. Lincoln County will bill homeowners 20 mills less each year for three years to make up the funds.

A mill is a percentage of the taxable value of a piece of property. The county losing the 60 mills equals nearly $2 million in lost revenue.

The county still anticipates more than $3.6 million in property tax revenues this year.

After the news came out about the multiple excess taxation, the largest offender of which was the Troy Dispatch, Lincoln County residents voted to keep the dispatch and set its taxable budget around at 29 mills.

Lincoln County remains the only county with three dispatch centers in the state of Montana. Only a handful even have two dispatches.

Additional costs to the county include a jump in insurance as a result of increased coverage and the effects of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Lauer said county employee insurance went from $1,373,915 to $1,798,746.

Total resources dropped from $30,975,676 to $29,858,167, a difference of more than $1.1 million, which had gone toward cutting taxes.