Silver Bow Kiwanis Kiwanis Club Meeting, Jul 21, '15

12:00-1:00 Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Today we were joined by Mike Smith from the Montana Standard, Karen Sullivan from the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department, and Jeremy Gatz-Miller from Butte-Silver Bow Public Relations.

Cathy again let us know that the board is asking the membership to vote to increase dues by $5 per person - that would make the dues $40/month for individual or corporate memberships and $20/month for associate/spousal memberships or inactive memberships. This increase is in response to increased meal costs over the last few years and increases in both District and International dues.

In addition, Cathy again read us the recommended slate of officers as proposed by the nomination committee. The officers would be Cathy Tutty as past president, Shawn Ori as president, Sunvee Rosenleaf as president elect, Jess McGee as vice president, and Kristi Scott as Treasurer. Directors would be Keith Seyffarth replacing RuthAnne, Jeremy Fleege re-elected to his position, Steph Johnson stepping into the director position vacated by Jess McGee. Doug Ingraham and Dave Curry are mid-term and would continue in their positions. This leaves one director position vacant to be appointed by the board from the membership. Kt Andersen would be appointed secretary.

Sunvee let us know that the Butte 100 is looking for volunteers, and a sign up sheet was passed around. Contact Sunvee if you can help.

Cathy read us an email from Evel Kneivel Days asking for people to help with their on-site fundraising by participating in the bucket brigade. If you are able to assist, please contact Cathy.

Cathy also reminded us that Silver Bow Kiwanis is sponsoring kids' activities at the An Ri Ra Irish Festival. It would be great to have a large turn out in our Silver Bow Kiwanis shirts to help out with that. Check your schedules and see if you can assist.

Finally, Cathy again mentioned the Montana District Convention coming up the first weekend in August. Check your schedules and plan to attend if you can.

Cathy then introduced Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent to talk about the budget.

Matt let us know that the proposed 2015-2016 budget is about $7Million less than the approximately $182.5Million budget passed in 2014. Only $46.9Million of this budget is from tax dollars, and about half of that is from property taxes.

The priorities in the budget are roads, sidewalks (particularly restarting the sidewalk improvement fund), IT upgrades, Superfund tasks, the Legion baseball field, recreational improvements at the Moutlon reservoir, the outdoor aquatic facility, improvements and repairs at the Civic Center and the Courthouse, and staffing improvements. The county wants to hear from people, so contact your commissioner, come to a council meeting, or complete the survey on the county web site.

Matt then introduced Danette Gleason from the finance office to explain more of the details of the budget. She showed us how complicated the budget gets, dealing with hundreds of accounts, many departments, hundreds of projects, and a lot of designated dollars.

She also showed us how the tax dollars from property taxes are split between state, county, and schools, as well as specific projects. She said it is important to look at your tax bill and understand how the taxes are assessed and how the funds are allocated, as that can vary considerably from year to year. When you look at the overall county expenditure and compare that to how tax dollars are spent, you can see that the allocation varies considerably.

Presentation

Matt Vincent, BSB Budget

Menu

Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich

Attendees

19

Event Updated

8:14 Tuesday, July 21, 2015