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Grappling with Persistent Growth and Key Issues, Whitefish Forges Ahead

Mayor addresses priorities in time of change, including increased budget proposal, new City Hall

By Tristan Scott
Construction continues on The Galleries building in downtown Whitefish on May 6, 2015. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

With an unrelenting docket of pivotal issues bloating its agenda for months, the Whitefish City Council has been conducting its business like a game of Whac-A-Mole – each time it dispatches one high-profile project or proposal, another rears its head.

And according to Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld, that’s not a bad problem.

Recent council sessions have had the tendency to drag on late into the night as city leaders grapple with a panoply of community-shaping measures, including the ongoing City Hall project, a massive city budget, corridor plans that will define future land uses in a resort town wary of change, an uptick in commercial and residential building, a non-discrimination ordinance, and strained relations with their county government counterparts.

“We are tackling some big issues right now, which is demanding a lot of time from the council and the planning staff,” Muhlfeld said. “But it’s paying off. We’re making progress, even if there’s no sign of it slowing down.”

As the council’s agenda continues to gain depth on the heels of several recent watershed moments, Muhlfeld says he doesn’t plan on slowing down, either.

That much is clear in his decision earlier this month to run for re-election, announcing his candidacy and naming Lin Akey, president of Glacier Bank’s Whitefish branch, as his treasurer.

“Given the fact that a lot of major projects we have been working on are still in flux, I thought it would be in the greatest good of the city to have some continuity, which was the biggest impetus for me to run for re-election,” Muhlfeld said in a recent interview with the Beacon.

In a major step last month, Whitefish voters overwhelmingly approved a 1 percentage point resort tax increase that will help finance the purchase of a conservation easement in Haskill Basin. The city’s resort tax on lodging, restaurant food and drinks and retail items will increase from 2 to 3 percent.

It was a watershed victory for conservation advocates and city officials who saw the need to permanently protect Whitefish’s municipal water supply while preserving recreational access to a 3,000-acre tract of land – including Muhlfeld, who championed the resort tax increase over other funding measures, like increased water rates on Whitefish residents.

“It was the best funding mechanism in that it spread the burden most equitably throughout the community and our many visitors,” he said. “It seemed to me only fair to spread that burden amongst all users, not just tax payers.”

Muhlfeld said he heard from fixed-income residents and seniors who explained that a hike in their water rate would hurt their pocket books; rather than require 5,200 water users to shoulder the burden, voters thought it better for the 500,000 visitors that Whitefish draws annually to help offset the costs.

And while the resort tax increase was met with plenty of skepticism, particularly from downtown retailers, Muhlfeld said the next step is to ensure a smooth transition by rolling out a shop local campaign that will benefit downtown businesses.

“We are sensitive that the majority of our shops downtown are locally owned and operated, and by embracing a shop-local campaign and spending money locally, consumers will understand that their dollars are going to protect the local water supply and recreational access, so they can feel proud to contribute to making Whitefish such a great place to live and work,” Muhlfeld said.

Another major issue at the fore of public discourse is the new City Hall and parking structure, which Muhlfeld said is close to moving forward.

He said the city council should exercise fiscal restraint in its final decision but recognized the gravity of the legacy project.

“We are very close and it has taken some time to get to where we are because it’s a very important project for the downtown core,” Muhlfeld said. “It is going to be a legacy project for the next 100 years, so we have to get it right.”

A three-story City Hall building with a full basement, parking structure and retail space is estimated to cost $14.6 million. The city proposes to fund the project with resort tax increment funds.

Muhlfeld says council has trimmed about $1.2 million from the price tag by decreasing the size of the proposed basement by about 4,000 square feet and will continue to work to bring down the cost.

Testament to the city’s current slate of future-shaping projects is the city’s recent budget proposal.

The city has proposed a 63 percent budget increase for the coming fiscal year, which would mean dramatically raising the property taxes in Whitefish for the first time since 2009.

The proposed budget of $65.9 million is up $25.4 million from last year, due mainly to the inclusion of the $14.6 million City Hall and parking structure complex, as well as $8.5 million related to a state revolving fund loan to provide funding for the Haskill Basin conservation easement.

Still, the budget calls for an increase of 22.39 mills levied.

“The proposed FY16 budget was probably the most difficult budget in over five years,” Stearns wrote. “Resumption of growth has put additional demands on staff resources and there were many proposals for new staff. Some I could recommend in this budget and some I could not.”

A public hearing and approval of the preliminary budget is planned for either June 1 or June 15, with final budget approval on Aug. 17.

The Highway 93 West Corridor Plan was also recently approved, and Muhlfeld commended the council and the corridor plan’s steering committee for balancing residential concerns and the need for future development, particularly by encouraging small, artisanal businesses that are compatible for the area.

He said the council and planning board could now turn their attention to other corridors, like U.S. Highway 93 South and Wisconsin Avenue.

“I’m very satisfied with the progress the council and planning staff have made on some critical issues,” he said. “As always, I encourage residents to participate in their city government because these are big, often times difficult decisions that we are making. They affect our community and the people who live here.”