Ravalli County commissioners spent the meeting reviewing department budget requests and setting short-term fiscal priorities, including a plan to increase the juvenile-detention fund reserve and to add an Economic Development Authority (EDA) staffer to the county insurance plan.

The commissioners agreed to hold juvenile-detention operating assumptions at 700 detention days for the coming fiscal year while increasing the fund reserve to the statutory maximum (about one-third) to cover volatility in daily costs paid to outside facilities. Finance staff computed that, on the 700-day assumption, the county would need a one-time transfer from the District Court fund of $41,006.86 to reach the recommended reserve level.

Why it matters: the county has no local juvenile-detention facility and pays other counties for juvenile beds and transport. Daily counts and court commitments have varied widely year to year; the new reserve target aims to smooth spikes in those payments without sudden ad hoc transfers later in the year.

On the Economic Development Authority request, commissioners agreed to add one EDA staff person to the county group health plan. Budget documents show a high-end (worst-case) estimate for that additional insurance slot at $14,008.12 annually; commissioners said they expect the actual cost to vary depending on plan choice and will budget against permissive levy resources when appropriate.

Other budget and program items that commissioners directed or agreed to during the session included:
- Airport parking/airport apron repairs: commissioners penciled $60,000 into the facilities capital budget to repair a deteriorated asphalt area at the airport parking/café apron while paving equipment and crews are on site for a larger apron project.
- State hospital billing: commissioners instructed staff to prepare a letter to the state hospital (and copy state legislators and the governor) contesting older involuntary-commitment bills that predate the county's current fiscal year and to include a FY'25 check for timely bills, while beginning a conversation about older invoices.
- Cell-phone stipends and small benefits: the county left existing stipend levels in place for now (historically $25 for many positions) while noting pressures from rising phone costs.

Budget timing and next steps
Commissioners deferred several department salary requests for further review at the next hearing, citing the need to verify revenue forecasts and to avoid committing to changes that could be unsustainable. A number of band/grade bump requests (including public-health nurse band bumps) were held or rejected pending a review of federal/state funding changes.

The board continued the budget hearings to a follow-up meeting on June 23 to finish remaining departments and to finalize numbers after staff supply updated cash and revenue estimates.

What was not decided
Commissioners did not adopt broad across-the-board pay raises at this session. Several specific personnel requests were left for later review, and commissioners asked staff to return with clearer revenue estimates, updated carryforward cash numbers and the final text of any contracts or grant reimbursements that departments intend to rely on.

Meeting context
The session was a line-by-line preliminary review intended to balance departmental requests against a still-evolving revenue picture; commissioners repeatedly stressed caution about tapping permissive levies and emphasized the need for better data on grant reimbursements and delayed state invoices before final commitments were made.