Libby City Council unveils proposed $5.8 million budget

Libby City Council unanimously approved a preliminary $5.8 million budget for fiscal year 2021 on Aug. 17.

The proposal represents a $138,208 increase in spending over the previous fiscal year budget. Taxpayers will have a chance to way in on the financial roadmap during an Aug. 31 public hearing scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

“It’s been a lengthy process with a lot of review and revision,” said Mayor Brent Teske, who thanked City Councilor Peggy Williams of the finance committee for shepherding the document forward.

Among the highlights, councilors are planning to expand the role of the city building inspector. The proposed move will add $28,747 to the department’s salaries and wages, and $8,634 to employer contributions.

City Councilor Rob Dufficy expressed concern about the long-term financial viability of the expanded position.

“We have the money to support [the increase] this year, if we decide to, but what about subsequent years? … Some years are very tight,” he said.

Williams said funding for the position likely would come through permits generated by the department. And City Councilor Kristin Smith said the move would result in tougher enforcement of ordinance violations, many of which go overlooked today.

“If you do enforcement, you have fines and potentially other things,” she said.

Officials also are planning to buy a roughly $100,000 replacement sewer jet truck. Money for the purchase will come jointly from the streets and sewer budgets on a monthly basis, Williams said. Given the condition of the current equipment, a newer vehicle should end up saving the city money, she said.

“Ultimately, it will pay for itself in reduced maintenance costs and efficiency,” Williams said.

Teske reinforced Williams’ assessment. The current jet equipment, which is used to clear out pipelines, is mounted on a chassis that dates back to the 1970s, he said.

“It’s constantly going down,” Teske said. “It’s getting to the point where it’s worn out.”

The 911 contract service line item in the city’s police department will receive a boost, but Williams said the hike was out of the council’s hands. Spending on that item will swell by $25,500 — from $31,500 last year to $57,000 in the proposed budget.

The increase comes from an overhaul of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office emergency communications and records system, Teske said.

Officials with the sheriff’s office petitioned the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners late last year to fund upgrades to the systems. Workers were salvaging equipment to keep the county’s emergency dispatch system operational and the sheriff’s office records management software was increasingly outdated. Authorities worried the software would soon no longer work with federal law enforcement systems.

At the time, commissioners agreed to spend about $848,000 in payment in lieu of taxes funds on the overhaul. One benefit, officials said then, was that a new records system would make it easier for the sheriff’s office to share information with police departments in Libby, Troy and Eureka.

“It’s not something we particularly had a choice over,” Williams said.

She reminded her colleagues on the council as well as residents that the budget remained subject to change in the coming weeks. Officials can tweak the document up until final adoption and even after that a budget amendment can be used to alter the financial roadmap.

“It’s not like it’s written in blood,” she said.