At a Sept. 6 meeting, the Whitefish City Council narrowly passed a budget for the fiscal year 2012, which started on July 1 and ends on June 30 of next year.
The council was split 3-3 with Mayor Mike Jenson providing the tiebreaking vote to pass the budget. Turner Askew, Phil Mitchell and Chris Hyatt voted against it, while John Muhlfeld, Bill Kahle and Ryan Friel cast votes in favor.
Whitefish’s budget contains 30 active self-balancing funds, with “self-balancing” defined as resources equaling requirements. The total amount of expenditures and transfers for all funds is $37.87 million, a 4.1 percent increase from 2011’s total of $36.38 million.
The property tax mill levy is the same as 2011 except for the transfer of 5.4 library mills from the county portion of the tax bill to the city portion.
Anticipated cash balances are up from last year. If the economy improves, City Manager Chuck Stearns said, the city may be able to repay the general fund for loans made to the building fund, which would increase cash balances further.
“I believe this proposed FY12 budget is a balanced approach to meeting many diverse interests among elected officials, employees, and citizens,” Stearns wrote in a memo.