Low attendance at Plains budget hearing

The Town of Plains held a public budget hearing at City Hall last Monday in the event anyone from the community would like to comment on the upcoming annual budget. For 30 minutes, Mayor Joel Banham, clerk Cathy Emmett, and council members Lana Dicken and John Sheridan waited to hear from the public. No one showed.

“Nobody ever goes to these things, but yet they complain and whine and holler,” said Emmett. “They don’t come to voice their opinion or even inquire about the budget. They just don’t care,” she added. “I can say it is frustrating to see empty chairs, but then I also think we are conservative with the taxpayer dollars and they trust us to look out for them. At least I hope that is the case,” said Councilwoman Connie Foust, a member of the budget committee, which has been working on the budget for almost six months. She said they go over every line item in the budget.

The special council meeting to approve the preliminary budget took place immediately after the public hearing. It took the four council members — Dicken, Sheridan, Foust, and Chad Cantrell (via phone) — roughly a minute and a half to unanimously approve the preliminary budget. All had previously read the 13-page Expenditure Budget Report and the eight-page Revenue Budget Report.

Emmett said they estimate some of the revenues, but firm numbers come from the taxes and State Entitlement for the general fund revenues. This year’s general fund budget was $1,509,241 and the proposed expenditures, based on past years, was $1,412,508. She said the town almost always has money left over that goes back into the town’s reserves. Committee members started working on the budget in March. The town fiscal budget year goes from July 1 to June 30. Council will vote on the final budget on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Because no one showed up for the public hearing, Banham took the opportunity to address an idea he had as an incentive for full-time town employees by offering to help pay part of their membership at one of the two fitness businesses in town. The thought would be that if an employee used a facility at least eight times a month, the town would reimburse a percentage of their membership fee. He said he’s been thinking of offering something like this for months.

It would be offered to employees to join either Warrior Fitness or the Slim Gym, which is operated by the Little Bitterroot Services. Banham guessed that of the seven full time employees, four or five might want to participate. It does not include the mayor or council members. He felt it would be especially beneficial to the three full time police officers.

“Any incentive that we can give to people is going to actually get more productivity out of them as well,” he said. He believes it would probably only be about $125 a month. “I know that when I go to the gym, I feel a whole lot better and tend to be more productive that day and so I’m thinking it actually might be a wise idea,” said Banham, who plans to bring it to the council’s attention.