Bannock County officials debate moving landfill mechanic funding to Road and Bridge, consider annual shop fee

Bannock County commissioners discussed shifting funding for a mechanic who services heavy equipment from the landfill’s enterprise fund to the Road and Bridge budget and creating an annual shop fee to reimburse the landfill for labor costs.

The conversation focused on how the county has begun tracking shop hours more accurately and found higher-than-expected labor usage charged to the landfill. "Just in the few months that we've seen, we're averaging around 4000 hours of or dollars of labor," Commissioner 2 said, acknowledging the county's new time-tracking increased visibility into costs. Commissioner 3 added, "This is kind of the last piece…some elected officials don't like that perception because they feel like that position is being supervised by that department. It's not the case. It's just a funding thing."

Why it matters: the landfill is an enterprise fund that should match its expenses to revenue. Commissioners and staff said the current accounting setup sometimes makes it appear that the landfill directly supervises or owns the mechanic position when the arrangement is a funding choice. County staff proposed either (a) moving the mechanic’s position budget to Road and Bridge and creating a shop-reimbursement line in the landfill’s admin fees or (b) keeping the position in the landfill and estimating an annual charge for mechanic labor.

Staff described two practical reimbursement approaches: a flat annual dollar amount assessed to the landfill each year (similar to an existing 5% admin fee the county charges for other internal services) or an hourly rebill tied to tracked shop labor. "I would almost prefer instead of just doing a shop charge by actual hours that we do it how we do the lunch for juvenile detention. We just do a dollar amount to reimburse for it and then assess it every year," Commissioner 3 said, arguing a predictable flat charge would ease budget stress for the enterprise fund.

County staff noted the new time-tracking may still be imperfect because hours are self-reported and not externally audited. "Now that they're tracking hours maybe a little more accurately... they put in their hours with what they work on, but it may or may not be accurate because it's not verified," Commissioner 3 said.

Timing and next steps: commissioners agreed to include a placeholder amount in the clerk's recommendation for the upcoming budget cycle and to revisit the figure after several months of additional time-tracking data. "If you have a better feel, then we can adjust it," Commissioner 2 said of setting an initial dollar amount equal to salary plus benefits and refining it later. Commissioners also discussed making the change effective Oct. 1, though no final administrative decision or formal vote was recorded in the transcript.

Budgetary details and limits: staff estimated a rough annual labor cost around $55,000 to $60,000 (salary plus benefits) associated with the mechanic role but said the exact number would be finalized by payroll and auditing. How on-call responsibilities and comp/overtime treatment would be handled if payroll funding shifts between departments would require procedural follow-up; staff said operational work would not change and on-call expectations would be preserved regardless of the accounting move.

What the record shows: the discussion was presented as budget-directioning and not a completed transaction. Commissioners instructed staff to add a placeholder to the clerk's recommendation and return with a finalized amount and procedural clarifications before the clerk’s recommendation deadline.