Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay. Good morning, all.

I will call the Thursday, September 3rd, Board of County Commissioners meeting to order. Chris, will you do roll call, please?

Commissioner Holmes?

Here.

Commissioner Chilcott?

Here.

Commissioner Brewer?

I'm here. Commissioner Chilcott, will you lead us this morning? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, Public comment. For those participating via Granicus, you may call 406-375-6513 in order to provide your public comment. And contracts for services, I understand we have none?

Correct.

All right. And our public hearing will start at 1045 with the sheriff's report. Retirement Levy Resolution 4808. We'll recess for six minutes? Recess for six minutes.

Okay.

Okay, it is 1045. We will begin with the Sheriff's Retirement Levy by Resolution 4808. Yeah.

So, as you know, you were able to levy the increase in Sheriff Retirement... from the current, or the current percentage that is contributed compared with the base year, which I believe is 2017, so the difference in those two years is 3.2%, so you're able to levy that, which this year equates to $149,826, which is .939 mils.

Mr. Chairman, move to approve and adopt resolution number 4808, sheriff's retirement permissive levy for 3.2% increase in county contributions. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve resolution 4808, sheriff's retirement permissive levy for 3.2% increase in county contributions. Is there any public comment on that motion? Further discussion? Question, Greg? Aye. Jeff? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carried. So we will recess until 11 a.m. We will reconvene with lighting districts via resolution 4809.

So we have to levy for the Corrales, Victor, and Westview lighting districts. And it's based off, the levy's based off of the estimated expenses for the utilities for those districts. And then it's using the taxable value of the properties in those districts. So for 27, Corvallis lighting will be 8.98 mils, Victor will be 5.03 mils, and Westview is $1.28 per front footage.

Mr. Chair, move to approve resolution 4809 for the lighting district levies. as discussed.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve resolution 4809 for the lighting districts, levees in River Valley County. Is there any public comment on that motion? Further discussion? Question Jeff? Aye. Greg? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries. So with that, we will pause until 1115. OK, we will reconvene with the fiscal year 27 elected official salaries by a resolution 4810.

CHRISTIE WOODARD- Commissioner, The salary compensation board met on April 20th of 26, and they passed the various levels of funding for elect officials of the county.

Mr. Chair, I move to approve and adopt Resolution 4810, a resolution establishing the salaries of elected officials for fiscal year 2027.

I'll second as long as we have some discussion on the one salary on here.

It has been moved and seconded to approve resolution 4810, a resolution establishing the salaries of elected officials for fiscal year 2027. Is there any public comment on that motion? Any further discussion? Question, Jeff. Aye. And Greg. Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries. Recess until. We will pause until 1.30. Okay, we will reconvene with our 2027, or 2027th year permissive medical levy by resolution 4811.

Commissioners, for the record, I apologize for each of the last three plus this one in the next public hearing. The legal notices were placed in the newspaper record and printed August 26th and September 2nd.

Thank you, Chris.

So, commissioners, you're allowed to levy for medical insurance for healthcare premiums, and it also includes the in lieu payments that we make. So it's based on their total cost for health insurance and the in lieu payments. For 2027, that total amount is 3,144,932, and for 209 employees, and that is compared to the base year of 2000 of what we paid then. So we are allowed to levy $2,660,133. And that equates to 16.67 mills. Do you see the difference between 2000 and 27? It's outrageous. $393,000 in 2000.

to $3.14 million today. Kind of 1,000% almost. Wow. Mr. Chairman, move to approve resolution 4811, the permissive medical levy for health care premiums. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve resolution 4811, permissive medical levy for health care premiums. Is there any public comment on that motion? Is there any further discussion? Question, Jeff? Aye. And Greg? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries. And we will pause until 11.45, and we will do final budget.

Okay.

All righty. We will reconvene with the adoption of the physical year 2027 final budget via resolution 4812.

So commissioners, by per code, MCA code 764030, you have to adopt the budget by resolution. So our final budget for fiscal 27 operating budget appropriations are $47,185,627. And we will be using property tax revenues of $20,031,340 to partially fund those appropriations. And this equates to 127.98 mills. Those mills consist of the aggregate levy, the road levy, voted levies, open land levies, the permissive medical levies that we discussed earlier, and the entitlement levy.

Mr. Chairman, I move to approve and adopt resolution number 4812, a resolution adopting the final operating budget. and setting appropriation authority for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027. Second.

It has been moved and seconded to approve Resolution 4812, a resolution adopting the final operating budget and setting appropriation authority for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027. Is there any public comment on that motion? Is there any further discussion? Question, Greg? Aye. And Jeff? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries. The budget is adopted.

The total non-tax resources

So that would be your non-tax revenues plus the resources available coming forward from the previous year is that total of 35.9. So that plus the property tax revenues equals 55.9, which is the appropriations plus reserves.

Okay, the next thing on our agenda is a creation of a large taxpayer-reserved fund via Resolution 4815.

So this establishes fund number 2388, I think, I think it is, which is for the large taxpayer-reserved So with the change in legislature, we only receive 40% of class codes other than class code number four, which is residential, commercial. But we can get 50% of that if we set up this large taxpayer reserve fund. So this establishes the setting up of that so that we can receive those funds. I believe this year it equates to, that is around $7,000. And we can only use those funds if certain things happen If a large taxpayer leaves or greatly reduces their presence in the county, we can use those funds for certain things. There is guidelines on how we can actually use it.

Mr. Chair, I move to approve and adopt Resolution 4815, Large Taxpayer Reserve Fund Creation.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approved resolution 4815, creating a large taxpayer reserve fund. Is there any public comment on that motion? Further discussion? Question, Greg? Aye. And Jeff? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries. And that is that it. Nothing else today. Okay. With that, is there any public comment on items not otherwise on our agenda?

Move to adjourn.

Second. We are adjourned.