Commissioners adopt budget

The Board of Commissioners for Lincoln County officially adopted the county’s budget for fiscal year 2015-2016 by unanimous vote Thursday morning. The budget calls for a total levy of 143.56 of the 147.84 mills allowed under law this year.

One thing missing in the budget is the previously-planned 20 mill repayment of overtaxed money from previous years. The payback, which would have amounted to roughly $27 per $100,000 of property value to the individual taxpayers, would have cost the county in excess of $630,000.

The commissioners held the final public hearing on the budget Wednesday morning, with a handful of county residents in attendance. The residents choosing to speak on the subject said they understood the decision of the commissioners and expressed an attitude of “don’t let it happen again,” in reference to the tax assessment mistake.

Commissioner Mark Peck said that while it was the commissioners’ intent to pay back the overtaxed amounts, doing so just didn’t make long-term fiscal sense for the county.

“It was set up to be paid back,” Peck said. “This has not been taken lightly. There’s just no good answer here.”

The commissioners said the decision was made in order to help preserve the county’s cash reserves, which exist in the road fund, primarily funded through state and federal contributions to the county budget. While the county still spent more than it brought in for this fiscal year, the amount of deficit spending, Peck said, was lower than it has been in recent years.

“We saw it as a high priority to slow down the rate of decline in those reserves,” Peck said.

Commissioner Greg Larson said the road budget is one area in which Lincoln County residents receive a tremendous benefit without paying a large bill and the need to protect the reserves in that fund.

“We were talking at lunch about why the need for the long term protection and guarding of the road fund cash reserves,” Larson said. “If we had to levy our Lincoln County taxpayers for the road fund budget it would be approximately 139 additional mills, which is approximately 5 mills less than our entire budget tax levy presented this morning.  The road budget is $4,408,802 divided by $31,602 or approximately 139.  I think it is critical that people understand we did not take the 20 mill pay back lightly but in consideration with the bigger picture looming down the road, pun intended, we did it with the best long term interest of the citizens in mind.”

Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder Robin Benson said she sent an email to the other clerks and recorders in Montana to inquire about how they fund their road departments. She said all of the responses weren’t in yet, but of those responding, every other county levies taxes to fund their road departments.

The commissioners said this year’s budget process has been long and grueling, but commended Benson for her extra hours and diligence during the process.

“She’s kept on the straight and narrow,” Commissioner Mike Cole said.

Commissioner Peck said that with this year’s budget behind them, the commission can start looking forward to next year and do a much more detailed analysis on the county’s needs and ability to pay for those needs in coming years.