City and County Government
1. Finally, the detailed budget document from Mayor John Engen is cooperating with me. The once-hinky document here. It details savings by city department.
2. Dick King from the Missoula Area Economic Development Corp. just called about the Smurfit-Stone Container bankruptcy hearing today. I should hear from the lawyer soon, but he said an e-mail from [...]
There’s more harsh news a’ comin’. Reporter Kim Briggeman visited briefly today with county chief administrative officer Dale Bickell about the budget.
What he learned? The county won’t roll out projections until next month, but folks will get a glimpse during Tuesday’s state of the county address.
Bickell also said he foresees both tax and non-tax revenue [...]
That was the powerful sword in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Sometimes it feels like you need one of those to get information you want. I’d still like to see firsthand the source of MSN.CareerBuilder.com’s “worst cities” list, for instance.
This week at City Hall, though, the river of information seems to be flowing strong. Someone from [...]
Remember how Councilwoman Lyn Hellegaard said she’d like to hear a financial report from the mayor on a quarterly basis? Well, hot dog, the City of Missoula Charter requires it.
Under Article III Section 5, the Charter talks about how the mayor administers the affairs of the city. “Once every three months, the Mayor shall make [...]
City finance director Brentt Ramharter said in spite of the penny pinching, Missoula’s savings for fiscal year 2009 weren’t enough.
“By the end of the year, we’re still not adequate,” Ramharter said.
It’s fallen to an uncomfortable $900,000 despite some of the cuts, he said.
“When you’re down to $1 million in your fund balance, that’s getting pretty [...]
Not the game, though I hear it’s fun. These are comparisons, always better than apples to oranges.
Councilman Bob Jaffe pointed out I’d noted salaries here as a percentage of the city general fund — and then as a portion of the overall county budget. And that’s apples to oranges.
Here’s apples to apples, per [...]
That’s MRTMA, or the Missoula Ravalli Transportation Management Association. One reader recently commented on the agency Councilwoman Lyn Hellegaard runs, and here’s some more information about it.
From past conversations with her, the vans seem like a program Missoulians and Ravallians appreciate. The vans are full and carry 15 passengers, according to www.mrtma.org. The wait lists [...]
Salaries aren’t as big a portion of the county budget as they are of the city’s. This year, some 75 percent of the city general fund is made up of salaries.
In the county, chief financial officer Andrew Czorny said the budget is roughly 40 percent salaries. There’s some 728 FTEs. Of those, some 42 percent [...]
Below are some numbers related to a budget story running Sunday. It touches on union contracts. First, parties on both negotiating sides spoke to good relationships.
From Jeff Brandt, the firefighters union president, on budgets: “I will say that the mayor and city manager Bruce Bender are working hard. Every conversation that we have with them, [...]
County chief financial officer Andrew Czorny sent over this property tax loss spreadsheet on where Macy’s taxes go.
Here’s Smurfit-Stone Container’s numbers via business reporter Betsy Cohen. (Sorry –thought I’d posted this one earlier.)
– Keila Szpaller
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