Emergency responders question commission candidates

Candidates for City Commission faced questions focused on public safety issues, organized labor and how to fund public safety during a forum Monday night hosted by the local firefighters union.

Three candidates for mayor, Mike Winters, Mike Trueman and Jacob Schaak, did not attend the forum.

Candidates largely said they supported unions, which represent a number of employees within city government including firefighters, but Rick Tryon and Bill Bronson mentioned challenges ahead for unions in the global economy and state and federal labor laws.

Tryon and Bronson are candidates for the two four-year commission seats. Bronson is a current commissioner.

Dave Van Son, president of the local firefighters union and a member of Great Falls Fire Rescue, moderated the forum and asked candidates their position on what essential services does the general fund support.

Tracy Houck, a commission candidate, said the commission doesn’t make those decisions, but their role is to ask questions and give guidance. She said she thinks the city should have an evaluation system to decide priorities.

During recent budget decisions, city department heads have submitted budget proposals with lists of things they’d fund with additional funding. The city manager made recommendations on which of those wish list items to fund and the commission has generally approved those recommendations.

Bob Kelly, mayoral candidate and sitting commissioner, said that the public safety budget this year is $19 million and is supported by the general fund, but the city was only estimated to bring in $15 million in property taxes when the budget was approved. The city now expects an additional $822,000 in tax revenue.

He said those figures show that tax money that comes to the general fund isn’t enough to fund public safety but the “work that public safety does is critical.”

With the additional tax revenue, more funds go to the library but commissioners have not decided how to use those funds yet. They discussed holding off on a decision until they see the final amount after appraisal appeals and see where the budget stands in six months.

Asked what to do with those funds, mayoral candidate Brian Shepherd said he would use it for public safety and more resources for the City-County Health Department, fix equipment and look at a new fire station.

Don Petrini said he would consider keeping it in reserve, but wasn’t sure if that was a legal option.

“Just because you have the money doesn’t mean you have to spend it,” he said.

Houck said she’d use the funds to better market the city and attract young professionals.

Asked whether they’d use the inflationary factor, which is one half the average rate of inflation for the three years prior, Bronson said yes but since this year that only meant $88,000, it wasn’t enough to run the city.

Tryon said residents can’t handle more taxes so the city needs to expand the tax base to generate more revenue.

Brad Livingston, commission candidate, said resources are needed for public safety, since if they don’t feel safe, businesses won’t come. But he also thanked the groups that were improving the city without city funding.

Commission candidate Neil Tredray said it’s not fair to put the onus of revenue on residents who live on fixed incomes, but instead need to expand opportunities for people in Great Falls to promote growth.

Asked whether they support privatization of city services, Tredray said “overwhelmingly no.”

Kenny Volk, a commission candidate, said in some cases it could work.

“I think we need to keep our minds open,” he said.

Kelly said it’s a financial decision, so long as the city maintains the ability to monitor.

“There are times where it makes sense to at least examine the issue,” he said.

Livingston said “I’m not a fan of privatization” for public safety, but might consider it for other areas, as did Shepherd and Tryon.