Kalispell City Council voted unanimously Monday to put before voters a public safety levy expected to raise $4.6 million in its first year.
The mail-in election will be held March 19. The ballot will ask voters to authorize the city to levy 60.9 mills annually to cover the cost of creating new positions within the Police and Fire departments as well as erect and staff a new fire station. The purchase of capital equipment would also be covered by the revenue raised by the tax increase.
The levy request follows the release of audits of the municipality’s public safety agencies over the summer. Undertaken by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Safety Management, the reports found both departments suffering from a staffing shortage among other concerns.
Heading into the Nov. 21 vote, city staff had presented Council with three options for a future levy request. Though City Manager Doug Russell warned going with the costliest option could pose a risk at the ballot box, Council settled on the option that is expected to meet the needs outlined in the audits.
The 60.9 mills option is expected to add $369 annually to the tax bill of a home valued at $450,000, according to city documents.
“For a lot of people, this isn’t small money,” said Councilor Chad Graham. “I hope that people understand — that doesn’t get lost on me. It’s about laying it out there in front of the voters.”
Councilor Ryan Hunter said his constituents persuaded him.
“I continue to have concerns about the option we went with,” Hunter said. “But ultimately I am hearing from folks in the community that they want our police and fire to be staffed up. And I do too.”
“We’re putting this in the right spot to let people speak up,” said Councilor Jed Fisher. “So I will be supporting this 100 percent.”
Councilor Sid Daoud asked Russell what would happen if the levy generated excess funds.
Extra dollars initially would go toward a new fire engine, Russell said. As far as the levy went, that would remain in place if approved, he said.
But Council could eventually alter the amount raised, Russell said.
“We have a dedicated levy, not a dedicated dollar amount,” Russell said. “You could potentially lower it.”
Mayor Mark Johnson stressed the need for functioning public safety agencies.
“When you call 911 and you want these guys to show up, you want them there right now,” he said. “When you’re in a time of crisis, three minutes seems like a lifetime.”
Council had previously directed city staff to bring on an outside firm to run an educational campaign, with $100,000 budgeted for the effort, around the levy request. Russell told councilors Monday that the proposal had seen no takers.
The dollars set aside could instead be used for materials sent by mail and the making of videos of local emergency responders, municipal officials and city councilors explaining the levy — stopping short of endorsing it — to be distributed publicly.
In concluding discussion, Mr. Russell noted that no third party had contracted the $100,000 set aside for informing the public on the upcoming ballot, leaving those funds for potential materials sent by mail, and videos of Kalispell Emergency Responders, city staff, and councilors explaining the levy without explicitly supporting it, to be posted publicly.
No members of the public were present at the meeting.
COUNCIL also approved two previously discussed development-related requests.
One resolution granted a two-year extension to Bridgeland Development as it works with the Montana Department of Transportation to finalize connectivity between the state agency’s property and Bridgeland’s Northland Subdivision project. At the end of 2025, Bridgeland may seek one final extension for its preliminary plat, which was first approved by Council in 2017.
The other was a second reading of a zoning ordinance amendment allowing for the layout of the Riverside North project to include storage units for its proposed single family homes.
Councilors Jessica Dahlman and Hunter voted no with Hunter harkening back to his previously raised concerns regarding the effect of construction and roads on the surrounding wetlands.
Reporter Carl Foster can be reached at 758-4407 or cfoster@dailyinterlake.com.
