Mayor's Corner

As the newly appointed mayor of Thompson Falls, I am writing this to follow up on one of the things that I talked about in the city council meeting of July 31, that being communication. I hope to be able to provide some information as to what your City government is doing. This time around I will talk about the budget process.

The City budget process is fairly lengthy, usually starting in May. The Clerk asks the heads of the public works, police, city attorney, city court and also the clerks own departments to review their budgets from the previous year, and then submit their requests for the upcoming budget year. After receiving the requests, the clerk enters them into the budget program and provides printouts to the department heads, the mayor and the city council.

The next step in the process is getting the taxable value from the Montana Department of Revenue and Sanders County. This provides information about funding available for the upcoming budget year. After this is received, usually in August, the information is provided to the City budget committee. The budget committee meets with the mayor and department heads to work out any changes that may be necessary. After a final budget is agreed upon, public hearings are scheduled. The final step in the process is the approval of the budget by the City Council at a scheduled Council meeting. The times and dates for meetings are posted in accordance with Montana laws. The meetings and documentation during this process are always open and available to the public.

If there are any questions or concerns about this information, you can contact the City Office at (406) 827-3557. If I am not in the office, you can make an appointment to meet with me.