Kalispell — City staff told the City Council on Nov. 10 that the municipal central garage is undersized for the city's current fleet and recommended moving forward with planning work for a new facility, including a budget amendment to use FY26 carryover funds for site selection and preliminary engineering.

City Manager Susie said the city maintains more than 325 pieces of equipment — from patrol cars and ambulances to dump trucks and ladder trucks — and that the existing shop lacks sufficient bays, ceiling height and properly ventilated welding and parts-storage areas. "To be able to facilitate, these features, we need a a facility that's about 13,500 square feet," Susie told the council. She said staff used a construction cost estimate of $6,000,000 in prior briefings.

The council gave general consensus to start the amendment process to move designated FY26 carryover cash into the Central Garage budget so staff can procure professional services for siting and preliminary engineering. On the funding available for that initial work, Susie said, "They were in the general fund in the carryover cash. There's designated amount for central garage," and later confirmed the carryover amount being discussed was $600,000. She added that the funds would "support the siting of the facility, get us through the 30 to 60% design, and then get us some good cost estimates for a facility and then moving forward."

Council members pressed staff on project longevity and downstream impacts. Susie projected the design would serve the city for "at least 30 years" but said the estimate would be refined as engineers produce more detailed plans. She also outlined a plan to repurpose the current garage for the sewer crew and shuffle other public-works space to relieve cramped crew rooms.

Financing options were a key point of discussion. Staff presented two illustrative loan scenarios (a 10-year and a 20-year loan using a 5% rate for modeling) and explained how the central garage is funded by internal transfers from 16 funds (with the street fund being the largest contributor). Councilors raised concerns that using internal transfers to service debt would reduce available capital for street maintenance and other projects over the life of a loan. "So streets is easy. It's mill and overlay street reconstruction projects would be reduced to be able to support the payment until we paid off a loan," Susie said.

Staff also proposed vetting whether West Side Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district revenue could cover construction. Susie cited Montana law in saying the TIF "does allow funds to be used for publicly owned facilities" and said the West Side TIF "generates enough revenue in a single year to construct the facility," while acknowledging property acquisition and other costs would be additional. Mayor Johnson and other councilors raised policy and political tradeoffs to using TIF for acquiring property and removing it from the tax rolls: "Tax increment is supposed to be used to reinvest, to rebuild your tax base on the West Side," Johnson said, urging caution about long-term effects on redevelopment incentives.

Council directed staff to verify the TIF revenue figures and other numbers staff cited (Susie agreed to follow up by email) and to schedule a December work session to examine the West Side TIF option in detail. Susie said she would also begin the public hearing process and prepare a budget amendment for council consideration to transfer the carryover funds into the Central Garage fund so professional services can be procured.

There was no formal vote on construction funding at the Nov. 10 work session; council's instruction was to move forward with planning steps and to return with refined figures and financing analysis. The council then proceeded to public comment and later moved into executive session.

Key next steps: staff will verify TIF revenue numbers, schedule a December work session on financing options, prepare a public hearing and a budget amendment to use $600,000 in FY26 carryover for site selection and preliminary engineering, and return to council with updated cost and financing details.