County Budget Approved

A breakdown of the budget by department may be found here: https://www.powderriverexaminer.com/home/customer_files/specialpubs/2021-22_final_county_budget_3_.jpg

With the approval of the 2021-22 county budget last week, the Powder River County Commissioners finalized the look of the county's spending for the year to come.

"Overall the county is financially in good shape," Commissioner Lee Randall commented when we stopped in to the commissioner's office on Monday. "Due to fluctuations in mill value and property tax assessments, some tax payers may see a slight increase in their taxes, while others may see their taxes go down."

Randall went on to comment about the major projects the county will be working on in the next fiscal year: "Right now we have good returns from oil and gas revenue, as well as a number of grants. Looking towards the future, that money may not be available, so we're trying to think ahead towards some projects and things that need fixed, in case that money goes away".

Several of those projects are in the works now, including the multi-faceted bridge project, which will replace the Moorhead, Little Powder, Pilgrim Creek, and Horse Creek bridges, as well as fix 17 miles of the Powderville East Road.

The commissioners updated us on those projects – the Moorhead bridge permitting process took longer than anticipated, but that phase is now complete, and will move on to the bidding process, which may take a few weeks or more. Construction could then begin on the modular bridge, though due to the vagaries of weather in Eastern Montana during the fall and winter, the bulk of construction is likely to occur next year. The other projects are likely to occur in the 22-23 fiscal year. Funding for those projects came from grants, with an outlay from the county.

Additional major projects which are reflected in the attached budget sheet includes improvements to the multi-purpose arena, and the airport hangar project. Improvements to the arena include outside lights, panels, new fencing between the arena and the trailer court, concrete slabs, and money budgeted for an engineer to look into replacement of the grandstands.

Extra money budgeted for the airport hangar project to the tune of $151,200 comes courtesy of a grant, which will be used to work with an engineer on the addition of a hangar to house aircraft at the airport, which currently has no major structures, leaving parked aircraft to the whims of the fickle weather.

The near doubling in the the Oil/Gas Production Tax line item comes from an outlay by the county from their oil and gas reserve fund, according to Clerk and Recorder Cynde Gatlin. That money will be offset by the bridge grant.

Several other major items of note in the budget include additional funds in Planning and Research, which will include a feasibility study for a possible critical care hospital; Gatlin tells us the funds for that study are offset by revenue. Additional funds in Planning and Research will go towards a capital improvement plan, to see what the county needs to work on in the future.

Several departments budgeted additional funds for additional salary and benefits, due to a pay raise for employees of $0.40 an hour as well as a pay scale change for some employees. Elected officials also received a 2% increase in pay.

The county received a large number of COVID-19 relief grants in 2020; the details on how that money was spent will be the subject of a future article.