Budget process questioned

How can the Stillwater County Commissioners hold a public hearing on the preliminary 2016 fiscal year budget if the public hasn’t seen it?
That’s the question Sheriff Cliff Brophy and Stillwater County Attorney Nancy Rohde – both elected officials – presented to the commissioners during the Aug. 25 budget hearing.
“How do you take public comment on a budget that was just completed a few hours ago?” Brophy asked.
Brophy said he didn’t include wage and salary information in his department budget request because he was told those requests would be taken at a later time.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to talk about wages and salaries,” he said.
“That should have been done earlier,” Commissioner Dennis Shupak said.
Commissioner Gerald Dell said six other departments submitted wage and salary requests.
“So their staff gets pay raises and mine doesn’t?” Brophy asked.
“That’s not what I said,” Dell responded.
The county has used the same budget process for years, Commissioner Maureen Davey said. The public comment period on the preliminary budget will continue until the final budget hearing is approved at the Sept. 1 commissioners meeting, she said.
“This is a preliminary budget,” Davey said.
Rohde also expressed concerns about the budget process. She said that, like Brophy, she had not seen a copy of the budget and suggested a hardcopy be placed in the Clerk & Recorders Office.
“We can’t provide informed viewpoint without seeing the budget,” she said.
Resident Jay Heitmann told the commissioners he wanted to comment on county expenses and pay raises, but he wasn’t able to find a copy of the preliminary budget.
“I wanted to comment on the direction the county was headed,” he said.
County Finance Officer Joe Morse agreed to provide electronic copies of the preliminary budget to those who request one, but he noted that the numbers will change as he takes additional input. He also noted that he had planned on changing the budget process next year so wage and salary information was included in department requests.
County resident John Simmons asked if any money in the Road Department budget was earmarked for drainage problems in the Absarokee’s alleyways.
Not specifically, Dell replied, as engineers are focused on the Stillwater River Road rockslide.
Davey said Park City residents have brought drainage issues to the county, and the town of Columbus was addressing drainage problems with their own money. She suggested Absarokee residents form a rural special improvement district to pay for drainage infrastructure.
Simmons said all he wanted was for a road grader to blade the dirt alleyways.