Flathead County commissioners approve placing $105 million public-safety bond on November ballot

Flathead County commissioners approved Resolution 2640 on Aug. 7 to place a $105,000,000 general obligation bond on the Nov. 4 ballot to fund a new public safety facility that would include the county jail and the sheriff’s department. The transcript records a voice vote and the chair said, “Motion carries.” (The transcript does not specify the year.)

Whitney Asherald of the commissioner’s office summarized the bond and estimated tax impacts, saying, “The bond is for a 105,000,000 with a 20 year term.” She told commissioners the county received updated taxable values from the Department of Revenue and provided first-year cost estimates: “For a $100,000 value, the first year would be … $11.13. For a $300,000 value, it’s $33.38. And a $600,000 value, $76.72.” She also noted that adding the question to the ballot requires a unanimous vote.

A Committee member who moved the resolution described the county’s assessment of needs and reasons for the project. The member said the current detention center “is too small… it’s got a 105 people,” and that the proposed facility “would increase it to 260 and put places in there for our mental health problems that we face in this county.” The mover said the county engaged architects and community reviewers and spent several years studying needs before bringing the measure forward.

Another Committee member seconded the motion and asked for clarification about the scope of the vote. That member said the action was not a vote of personal support for the jail itself, but “really a vote on the amount of money and the process that we would be using.” Whitney Asherald confirmed the resolution’s purpose: it is to add the bond question to the November ballot.

The chair, speaking in support, reviewed preparatory steps the county has completed and the sources of pre-construction funding: “We have bought property, we have paid all the upfront costs for the environmental studies, the geotechs… We’ve paid the architect, we got our construction company on board, and all of that has been done with federal dollars not property-tax dollars primarily.”

After brief discussion, the chair called for the vote; the transcript records a voice “Aye” and the chair stating, “Motion carries,” approving placement of Resolution 2640 on the Nov. 4 ballot. The resolution’s adoption will allow the question to appear on the ballot; the transcript does not record individual named vote tallies or the year of the meeting.

What happens next: with the resolution adopted, the bond question will be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot. Additional project decisions (design details, construction timeline, final budget allocations) are expected to follow later in the county’s planning and procurement process.