Libby City Council approves budget

Libby City Council unanimously approved a $5.8 million budget for fiscal year 2021 on Aug. 31.

The approval followed a hearing in which members of the public were welcomed to City Hall to comment on the financial road map. No residents provided comments on the budget.

“That was short and sweet,” Mayor Brent Teske said after the council passed the budget.

The finalized spending plan marks a $138,208 increase in the previous fiscal year budget. Among the highlights, councilors will expand the role of the city building inspector. The change in duties will add $28,747 to the department’s salaries and wages and $8,634 to employer contributions.

Officials are also planning to buy a replacement sewer jet truck at $100,000. The purchase will be jointly funded by the streets and sewer budgets on a monthly basis. City Councilor Peggy Williams of the finance committee said during an Aug. 17 meeting that upgrading the truck should save Libby money in the long run given the condition of current equipment.

A 911 contract service line item in the city’s police department swelled from $31,500 last year to $57,000 in the 2021 budget. The change was due to an overhaul of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office emergency communications and record systems.

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county’s emergency dispatch system operational and the sheriff’s office records management software was increasingly outdated.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.

In addition to approving the budget, the council members passed resolutions that set the upcoming annual appropriations, the tax levy and salaries for city employees and elected officers.

The city will levy a total of 158.38 mils to finance the 2021 fiscal budget.