Silver Bow County finance committee approves $2.18 million expenditure list after questions on grants, wastewater upgrade and travel advances

The Silver Bow County Finance & Budget Committee voted Wednesday, Oct. 15, to approve the county’s expenditure list totaling $2,175,976.19 after commissioners asked staff to explain several line items.

The meeting was called to order by Chair Thacher. Present were Commissioners O'Neil, O'Leary, Walker and Shea; Commissioner Boyle was absent and excused. After several commissioners asked clarifying questions, the committee approved the list by voice vote.

Committee members focused on a handful of claims. Commissioner O'Leary asked about claim 2759 (page 57), listed as HDR engineering fees tied to Montana Craft Malt. Director Hassler said this is a Tippett grant to Montana Craft Malt to “assist[] with their expenses to get them into compliance for their pre treatment” for discharge that goes to Metro. The claim amount for that entry was not specified in the discussion on the record.

Commissioner O'Leary also queried claim 2678 (page 82) to Hollow Contracting, described as “Edwards 3 304 tons.” Director Hassler said the charge is for asphalt purchased as part of a water-line replacement in the Edwards area: Hollow supplied asphalt tonnage that was used to fill the ditch after the water-line work.

Commissioner Walker asked about claim 2906 (page 23), a travel advance for Sheriff’s Office training for Bryce Foley. Director Hassler explained there were two travel-advance claims; one for $770 includes meals (about $80 for four days), mileage of 164 miles reimbursed at the IRS rate of $0.70 per mile (total transportation about $114.80) and lodging paid as an advance. Hassler described the item as a travel advance that is reconciled after travel: “when they come back, they’re required to … reconcile and say, okay. This was how much my lodging was.” The exact lodging portion listed on the advance was discussed variously in the record and was not uniformly stated in a single line-item total in the on-the-record explanation.

Commissioner O'Neil asked about claim 2899, listed as hazardous-materials technical training. Director Hassler said the training is funded by a FEMA HMEP grant (Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness). “It’s a refresher in specialized hazmat equipment training that they come here to train our people and it is grant funded. There is no match required for these,” Hassler said.

On page 89, claim 2829 (Public Works/ARPA) was identified as a solids-handling construction charge to upgrade screw presses at Metro; the claim amount discussed was $364,108. Director Hassler said the upgrade is intended to make handling of Metro residual material more efficient and reduce operations-and-maintenance costs.

Several commissioners also probed a set of tax-related refunds processed through ACI, the county’s online payment processor. Dr. Houser asked about claim 2840 and ACI payments marked as “taxes paid.” Hassler explained these entries arise when taxpayers pay online via the county’s iTax site and either double-pay (a taxpayer and a mortgage company both pay) or the initial payment is returned for insufficient funds and the processor reclaims the amount. Hassler said the processor (ACI) “paid Silver Bow County” and then later clawed back funds when payments did not clear; the county subsequently reimbursed the processor. Miss Baker Patrick described the county’s process for working with the processor to contact customers and, if uncollected, to back the taxes out and fund ACI.

Before adjournment Chair Thacher noted at least one budget transfer within the approved expenditures: funds moved to cover an unanticipated expense to replace a printer that could not be repaired. Director Hassler said the transfer came largely from community enrichment with other portions coming from weed department funds and that the replacement would serve multiple departments in David Gary’s office.

A motion to review and approve the expenditure list for Oct. 15, 2025, in the amount of $2,175,976.19 was made and seconded. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

The committee then adjourned.