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Flathead County health budget raises animal-shelter costs, funds CAT crisis team with opioid-abatement support
Summary
Health department staff told commissioners vaccine and medicine costs raised per-animal intake expenses and that $60,000 will be drawn from donation reserves; the countyCAT crisis team diverted hundreds of ER visits in 2025 and will rely on a mix of crisis diversion grants and opioid-abatement funds next year.
Desiree Nelson, a health department presenter, told Flathead County commissioners during their May 6 budget review that the county has revised animal-shelter intake costs to $46.43 per dog and $31.97 per cat and doubled the vaccines-and-medicine line to reflect actual expense. "We are pulling dollars, $60,000, from our donation reserve account to reflect those additional costs," Nelson said.
Nelson told commissioners donations to the county have declined because many donors now give directly to Friends of the Shelter, which reduces revenue available for county operations. Commissioners asked whether the adoption vouchers previously provided by the nonprofit remain available; Nelson said the voucher program has ended and adoption fees are now charged to adopters.
Nelson also reviewed the health administration budget and highlighted the CAT crisis diversion team. She said the program helped divert more than 300 emergency-room visits in 2025 and responded about 1,500 times for more than 500 unique individuals. "The CAT team also works directly with the ambulance and reduces law-enforcement staging times," she said, adding that next year the programwill be funded by a mix of crisis diversion grants and opioid-abatement funds.
Commissioners pressed staff on how long opioid-abatement dollars will be available and on the programvalue the county is getting. Nelson said settlement distributions vary by agreement and that some come as lump sums while others pay over 10 or 20 years. "There is an end of that funding," she said of individual settlements, and staff pledged to provide more precise data on cost savings and law-enforcement time returned to patrol during the next fiscal year.
Nelson described other health-budget items that will be adjusted once grant awards are final, including a lead-prevention award the department did not expect to receive. She said the department will not book pending grant revenue into the base budget until contracts are executed and that budget amendments will follow when awards arrive.
The commissioners asked routine operational questions about radon and family-planning line items; Nelson said large programs such as family planning draw on cash balances and reserves rather than the county general fund. On air-quality services, staff said an existing grant funds FTE and a burn-permit online service, and that money left from prior large grants is being used rather than shifting costs to taxpayers.
The meeting record shows no formal vote on the health budget at the session; staff said they will bring any required budget adjustments forward when grant contracts are received.
