Bitterroot Politics

I asked Klarryse Murphy, the county CFO, what synonym best described her take on the just-adopted FY11 budget.

“Difficult,” she said.

Then she said “difficult” about five more times in a row.

I’ve been writing budget stories since I was a wee tyke and I don’t think I ever heard a finance manager, CFO, county manager or city manager describe the budget process as anything other than “difficult” and its immediate linguistic relatives.

And yet if any one of those was to be truly difficult, it would be Ravalli’s (or any county in Montana). Elsewhere in the world, if you need more money, mayors and commissioners can just raise taxes. Well, OK, it’s not quite that easy, but what I mean is municipalities can set the budget they want. In Montana the state statutorily limits a mill levy. That can change only through growth and inflation, but the inflation figure is where counties really get whacked: counties must take the December inflation rate — not an annual rate but the actual rate in December — for three years, average those three years … AND THEN DIVIDE THE NUMBER IN HALF.

Wow, I’ve never in my life used all caps.

I can see the state’s point in this: they want to take taxing authority from counties, who otherwise would build crystal palaces and buy each other Jaguars and tax residents accordingly. But the train rolls off the tracks in a year like 2010, when growth is flat, investment revenue is down, fee collection is down, and inflation is negative.

And so I’m left to simply nod along dumbly when Klarryse repeats “difficult” for like the 10th time.

Tax reform, anyone?

Anyway, here’s what the county adopted this afternoon. Note that while the overall mill is set, some of the departmental figures will adjust slightly. (Click to enlarge.)

If commissioners had a favorite word today, it was no.

Make that, NO. NO. NO.

Going through proposed budgets in the small conference room, commissioners were scratching through requests left and right. Greg Chilcott was writing No! by entries.

Chilcott called one departmental manager and jokingly chided him.

“No,” he said, referring to the proposed requests. “You might notice these words in here. They’re short, monosyllabic.”

Elsewhere, commissioners noted one department asked for money to build a women’s bathroom; now, the department has only a men’s. But when does the madness end, asked Commissioner Jim Rokosch, nodding to the subsequent office supply line item.

“You give a guy a restroom,” he said, “and now he wants toilet paper.”

All jokes aside, commissioners looked at budget items as small as $10 and $20. In all my years of reporting on budget negotiations, I’ve never seen such debate about items so small. It’s impressive, frankly. It’s also very interesting to watch. It’s not without reason, however. The county CFO, Klarryse Murphy, yesterday said she had seen estimates for tax revenue for next year.

“It’s an eye-opener,” she said.

Murphy is double checking budget requests before they even get to commissioners. One budget said it needed $130 a month for phone and internet. But Murphy checked — the bill is only $116 a month!

Generally, departments are shaving costs by about 3 percent from last year, though there are exceptions on either side. What’s been left unsaid so far is if that will be enough, or if commissioners will have to demand bigger cuts, or if taxes (gulp) will have to go up.

Quote of the day, by the way, goes to the county CFO, Klarryse Murphy, who was commenting on a room remodeling request from the sheriff’s office.

“A year without a remodeling in Ravalli County is like a day without sunshine.”