Cascade County Commissioners adopted an interim operating budget as they prepare the full budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

In early July, commissioners adopted the interim budget since the county can’t determine the full budget or mill levies until it receives its certified taxable values from the state, which typically occurs in early August.

Once the county receives those numbers, commissioners will finalize the budget and schedule a public hearing.

Commissioners typically adopt their budget in early September.

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Commissioner Joe Briggs told The Electric that though the budget is still being drafted, he is preparing a resolution of intent to raise property taxes.

He said that even if they pass a resolution of intent, commissioners don’t necessarily have to increase property taxes by levying more mills depending on how their numbers shake out once they get their data from the state.

If they don’t pass a resolution of intent, they wouldn’t be able to increase taxes, even if it was necessary to balance the budget, he said.

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During the county compensation board meeting in May, Briggs said that in developing the proposed budget, he didn’t see how they’d be able to avoid taking the full inflationary factor, which is one half of the average rate of inflation for the previous three years, and the permissive medical levy, which is used to offset county costs for employee health insurance premiums.

Briggs said on July 19 that the county saw a significant increase in employee health insurance costs, as did the city this year.

The interim budget ensures continuous operation of day-to-day county business, according to commissioners and they adopted an interim budget of $85,535,066.

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The budget will include a 4.1 percent pay increase for most elected officials and non-union employees, as the compensation board voted in May to recommend those increases.

Commissioners still have to approve the increases through their budget process.

The county attorney does not receive a pay increase this year because under state law, his salary is capped at the level of district court judges and the board increased his salary by $12,000 last year to that level.

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This year’s COLA is 4.1 percent, based on the consumer price index from the U.S. Department of Labor, according to county officials.

Currently, state law requires that a county compensation board meet to make recommendations on salaries for the county treasurer, clerk and recorder, clerk of district court, county superintendent of schools, sheriff, county attorney and others. The law requires that county commissioners be paid the same amount as the county clerk and recorder, plus $2,000.

The county treasurer and clerk and recorder both receive an additional $3,032 under state law for operating combined offices.

The sheriff and deputies also receive longevity increases annually.

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With the increases recommended by the board, the base salary for county commissioners, treasurer, clerk and recorder, clerk of court and justices of the peace will increase to $78,164.84.

Non-union county employees with the 4.1 percent increase will go from $5,970,867.06 to $6,172,469.42, according to county figures.

With the planned six percent increase, plus statutory add ons and the longevity increase, the sheriff’s total salary will increase to $110,103. The remaining sworn personnel salaries will increase from a total of $3,483,887.57 to $3,791,659, according to county numbers.

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The county has about 16 collective bargaining units and personnel costs make up about 60 percent of the county budget.

The budget for the next fiscal year includes $826,999 in increased wages through collective bargaining agreements.

The county is anticipating increased health insurance costs, as well as property insurance increases.

Officials are also awaiting decisions in a major tax appeal by Calumet Montana Refining that could affect tax revenues for Cascade County, the City of Great Falls and Great Falls Public Schools.

Briggs said during the compensation board meeting that departments were asked to hold their operating budgets flat and add in known personnel increases from collective bargaining agreements.

The board also voted to recommend an additional 1.9 percent, for a total six percent increase, for the sheriff since deputy salaries get percentages of the sheriff’s salary under state law.

The sheriff and deputy pay increases are paid through the county’s public safety levy that voters approved in November 2022.

Briggs voted against the additional increase for the sheriff, and by extension the deputies, saying he was concerned about an effort to cover health insurance costs for one specific group of employees and whether that was fair to other county employees.

Commissioner Jim Larson also voted against the additional increase for the sheriff.

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After the May compensation board meeting, there was some confusion amongst county officials since state law requires two county commissioners to vote in the affirmative for the salary increases at the compensation board meeting.

But, under the law, additional pay for the sheriff was separated out and does not require that vote at the compensation board and is separate commission action, County Attorney Josh Racki told The Electric.

Briggs has largely been handling development of the upcoming budget, but in May, commissioners hired a new chief financial officer.

Trista Besich began the role June 3 with a starting salary or $122,500.

A number of county employees and others who had knowledge of county and Alluvion history, contacted The Electric with concerns about the hire.

Besich resigned as the chief executive officer of Alluvion in January, amid stalled construction on the Rocky Mountain Building downtown, furloughs and program cuts.

The county posted the chief financial officer position in February 2023, creating it after the former budget and grants manager retired.

Commissioners received the first qualified application for the position in February 2023 and three more applications were received in September 2023, with the first round of interviews in October 2023, Commissioner Rae Grulkowski told The Electric.

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In February, commissioners received another qualified application and interviewed that candidate twice, mostly due to technical difficulties during the zoom interviews,” Grulkowski said, but did not offer the position to that candidate.

In April, commissioners received another application but didn’t conduct interviews until a month later, after Besich’s application was received, Grulkowski said.

“The first candidate had outstanding qualifications with a solid background in public sector accounting and management. The other two commissioners did not want to entertain negotiating to recruit this candidate,” Grulkowski said.

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Commissioner Jim Larson told The Electric that commissioners had made an offer to that candidate, who countered their offer.

“He didn’t want to do things the way we do things and he wanted a lot more money,” Larson told The Electric. “I said there was no use trying to negotiate that because we were so far apart.”

After the first candidate didn’t work out, commissioners moved to offer the job to Besich.

Grulkowski said the didn’t support “making that offer as this was not the best qualified candidate we interviewed during the long, 18 month time period without a finance officer.”

Grulkowski said she didn’t have a “favorable opinion of [Alluvion’s] performance or the way our county has been used to advance their status over the years.”

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Larson told The Electric he’d been a detractor of Besich since Alluvion left the county as they’ve had issues with the entity, but as the finance officer, “all she has to do is handle the numbers.”

Larson said Briggs had largely handled this year’s budget and that he felt comfortable with Besich in the position since it only oversees the accounting division and commissioners have oversight of the position.

Larson was on the board of the community health care center as it transitioned to become Alluvion and split from the county. He resigned from the board in 2019.

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There were problem with billing and missing money at the time, Larson said, and “felt it was a conflict of interest since the information I was getting as a commissioner and on the board wasn’t jiving so I felt it was not the place to be.”

Larson said that Besich seems excited about the job and wants to work hard, “probably to show people that she can be good at what she does.”