Manager wants to get early start on Kalispell budget

Initial work sessions will begin this fall

City Manager Jane Howington gave the "30,000-foot overview" of her vision to revamp Kalispell's budget planning process at a council work session Monday night.

Starting this fall - council members agreed October would be best - she will launch a six-month schedule of work sessions to let the council know what she's doing on the budget and to get direction from council members on what they want to see in the process.

In the seventh month she will present a draft budget for council review, a document that arises from the give-and-take of the previous six months.

It's designed, Howington said, to shed light on what she and department heads did and why they did it as they create a new fiscal year budget, then give the council opportunities to change it.

And it's a step toward the transparency in city government that the council advocates.

Howington highlighted a long list of considerations that must go into the budgeting process.

It begins with past budget development, community needs, laws and mandates, and providing services in a changing economy.

She would lead the staff in looking at current practices of how, for example, employee salaries are allocated within various funds.

They would look at growth management plans, personnel issues, capital planning, public safety, the city's financial practices, and assets and liabilities.

Monthly sessions, under Howington's plan, would begin with the big picture and hone in on the details as time progresses: long-range direction of current policies; legal restrictions on the city; financial, economic and political climates shaping city direction; in-depth sessions on human resources, capital planning and finance.

Along the way, she also proposes a continuous improvement action plan to refine how the current year's budget is being carried out.

Reporter Nancy Kimball may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com