Leftover general fund dollars could go to Libby's new capital improvement fund

Recent efforts by City of Libby officials to clear the municipality’s debts and bolster its savings seem to be paying off.

City Clerk and Treasurer Sam Sikes told members of the city council’s budget committee that Libby has $265,000 in appropriations leftover from last year’s general fund to put toward its capital improvement fund. Along with the city’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), the fund, which councilors approved in March, will help city officials finance major expenditures without overburdening municipal coffers and taxpayers.

“It will fund the dump trucks we need, it can also fund playground equipment for Fireman Park, it's going to fund the police officers' vehicles, it’s going to do the building repairs,” said Sikes during the July 14 meeting.

Sikes spearheaded the effort to build the CIP and the improvement fund earlier this year. Local governments across the country use the system to avoid loans and accruing interest when paying for expensive projects.

At the time of the meeting, Sikes said he was still ironing out the language of the city’s CIP. For each project, he would have to specify how much the city would spend and how long it would take the municipality to assemble the needed funds. Capital improvement dollars can only go towards projects that cost more than $5,000 and will last longer than five years.

While the CIP would be a boon for the municipality, City Councilor Peggy Williams said officials would need to be cognizant not to withhold money from other municipal projects, including sidewalk, paving and infrastructure work.

“It’s going to be a delicate balance to make sure we fund the CIP and make sure we don’t shortchange those other projects,” she said.

Sikes said city officials could use the CIP to earmark funds to those ends. By helping the city meet match requirements for grants, the CIP could help officials bring more money from outside organizations to Libby.

“We just have to tell it what to do,” said Sikes. “You tell your money what to do or you wonder where it went.”

Sikes presented the councilors with a list of debts the city had paid off with the help of $272,374 in federal coronavirus relief aid during the meeting. The monies had gone towards clearing payments for patrol cars, a truck, and the fire hall roof among other expenses.

The committee also considered adjustments to the city’s allotments for sidewalk and planning work for the fiscal year. Councilors mulled over increasing funds for roads, streets and curb work from $45,000 to $90,000 and dropping the amount budgeted for planning from $10,000 to $5,000.

Councilors foresaw an uptick in sidewalk projects next year including the replacement of the sidewalks around the Libby Care Center. Sikes said the city was not drawing as much as it budgeted for in planning.