County Approves $17.6 Million Budget For 2024-25 Fiscal Year
Author: Linda Kent, MT43 News Staff Reporter
County Approves $17.6 Million Budget for 2024-25 Fiscal Year
Linda Kent
MT43 News Staff Reporter
Broadwater County Commissioners signed off on a $17.6 million budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. The commission did not receive public comment during the hearing opening their June 26 regular meeting.
“Our elected officials and our department managers have done a fantastic job of trying to control their expenses,” Commission Chair Darrel Folkvord said, noting department increases of under 2 percent, with some departments trimming as much as 17 percent over the previous fiscal year. “This really was kind of a belt-tightening budget for us.”
Folkvord also noted that the budget was built around the current fiscal year’s revenues, not projections for the coming fiscal year. No increases in expenses were included from the county’s side.
County Financial Officer Debbie Kelley told the commission that the state will be communicating new property assessment values for later this year and that the county will be allowed a 2.8 percent inflation rate.
The county’s total budget includes both funds designated for the school district and fire district operations, as well as those reserved for the county’s use. The county operations and personnel allocations, including approximately $4.7 million in grants funding the airport reconstruction, weigh in at about $15.9 million.
County Executive Administrator Bill Jarocki cautioned commissioners that only 16 percent of the county’s revenues will come from floating mills – those made available to the county by the state and limited to a dollar-value cap. The remainder – around $12 million – comes from a combination of state entitlement shares, federal payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) monies, and the county’s cash reserves.
Significant changes for the upcoming fiscal year include condensing utilities costs under a single facilities budget, rather than shared out to each department by location. Jarocki said this will aid in better capital improvement planning for the county.
Jarocki said he will be developing a policy for setting minimum cash balances, CIP, and reserve funds by the department and the county overall.
“We have a huge balance of money in the county,” Jarocki said. “But we don’t have any policy on how that is used.” Questions to resolve include how much money should be kept on hand and, possibly, if money should be rebated to taxpayers.
Jarocki will be reviewing the budgets with county department heads on a quarterly basis to see how expenses are tracking against the budget and potentially make adjustments. The process will also identify when budget amendments may need to be proposed.
