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Commissioners weigh budget trade-offs: detention plumbing, fair expansion, cleaning services and grants staff
Summary
Missoula County commissioners reviewed multiple one-time and ongoing budget requests, including a choice between contracting $500,000-per-year plumbing work at the detention facility or adding two in-house plumbing FTEs at an estimated $250,000 ongoing cost; a proposal to extend the county fair to 10 days (estimated additional revenue $455,000) tied to new personnel; a proposed move to in-house cleaning that initially costs about $30,000 more than contracting; and prioritized hires for a coordinated grants team.
County staff and department leaders presented a series of budget enhancement requests and trade-offs, and commissioners discussed which items to fund this budget cycle.
Detention plumbing: Staff described miles of piping at the Missoula County Detention Facility in need of multi-year replacement. Contracting the work was estimated at about $500,000 per year; staff proposed an alternative to bring plumbing work in-house by adding two FTEs, with an estimated ongoing cost of about $250,000 annually. Commissioners asked for additional analysis and placed the request in a temporary status to avoid an immediate commitment.
Fair proposals: Fairgrounds staff described a proposal to expand the county fair from six to 10 days and estimated the expansion could generate about $455,000 in additional revenue annually while increasing personnel and operations costs. Staff recommended treating the first year as a "soft opening" if expansion proceeds, and suggested the operations manager position would support growth of the fairgrounds year-round. Commissioners discussed tying the 10-day decision to a future budget amendment once expected revenues are clearer and to avoid prematurely committing to ongoing personnel costs.
Cleaning services and facilities staffing: Facilities proposed converting a halftime shared position into a full-time facilities administrative assistant and adding an FTE to the projects team to manage an increasing construction workload. Staff also proposed moving contracted cleaning services in-house; initial estimates showed the in-house approach would cost roughly $30,000 more in the first year than the current contract. Commissioners suggested revisiting the cleaning question in a year as prevailing wage and long-term trends evolve.
Grants staffing: Grants leadership requested a phased increase in grant support staff (0.5 FTE this year, becoming 1.0 in FY27) and prioritized a 0.75 FTE (to become 1.0) for coordinated internal grant services. Melissa (grants staff) told commissioners she is "confident" that external administrative funds from successful grant awards (for example, CDBG and EPA Brownfields opportunities) could cover a portion of future ongoing costs. Commissioners expressed cautious support for adding coordinated grant support while saying they must be prudent on new ongoing tax-supported positions this year.
Other items: A $60,000 request for a first-responder wellness app and a workers' comp-funded remodel of a reception area were presented as absorbable within existing wellness and workers' compensation funds, respectively. A separate request to begin employer-funded contributions toward flexible parking benefits (about $70,000) was declined because the county has exhausted its one-time general fund spending cap for the year.
Commissioners concluded the session by deferring some personnel decisions pending additional revenue analysis and recommended handling major decisions (for example, a potential 10-day fair) as budget amendments only if dedicated revenue sources materialize.
