Kalispell City Council will vote tonight at its 7 p.m. meeting on whether to amend an additional $130,000 into Fire Department budget to cover salaries and benefits for the current fiscal year. A public hearing over the budget amendment is scheduled for the beginning of the meeting, prior to the council’s vote.
Interim City Manager Myrt Webb cited three main reasons for the Fire Department shortfall in a memo to city council: When two fire marshal positions were eliminated last year, one employee moved to the building department and another became a shift firefighter – but the new firefighter position was not budgeted and no vacancy opened up to compensate.
Additionally, expenses due to the use of “Kelly Days” by firefighters leaped from $5,290 in 2007 to an anticipated $60,000 in the current fiscal year. A Kelly Day is when a firefighter can volunteer to work extra days for straight pay to help out on short-staffed shifts.
Finally, the ambulance fund is forecasted to be $30,000 in the red by the end of the current fiscal year, June 30, which necessitates moving $30,000 in salaries and benefits back to the general fund fire budget. The $130,000 will come out of the general fund cash reserves, which are estimated at around $460,000 by the end of June.
Also on the agenda for tonight’s meeting:
–A public hearing for comments on a budget amendment to cover shortfalls in the Parking Commission’s budget for the current fiscal year. A vote to amend $17,000 into the commission’s budget to handle the shortfall will follow.
–Council will consider deleting the requirement that all BMX bikes must be equipped with coverings over the pegs in the Woodland Skate Park. A separate vote would give the Parks and Recreation Department the authority to close the skate park for a determined period of time if the park is “deemed dangerous or unmanageable.”
–A conditional use permit is requested for a proposed 23-unit assisted living apartment building on two acres at the end of Indian Trail.
–A zoning text amendment to the city’s sign regulations allowing for the placement of up to two temporary off-premise signs per lot in an residential zone.
–A resolution of an intent to annex and hold a public hearing over several parcels of county land now wholly surrounded by city property.