State Proposes Adding 3 Judges to 13th District Court
The Montana Judicial System and Yellowstone County officials are organizing an effort to ask the next Montana State Legislature to fund three additional District Court Judges for Yellowstone County. Yellowstone County’s 13th Judicial District Court has the highest case load in the state by a wide margin, according to a recent survey, which concluded that […]
Bryan comments on Yellowstone County Budget
Looking to the future – anticipating what space will be needed and figuring out a strategy of how the county will be prepared to meet those needs, is a primary focus of the coming year’s budget, for Director of Finance Kevan Bryan.
Committee mulls 2 percent raise for county’s elected officials
Originally published in the 6/8/18 print edition of Yellowstone County News. BILLINGS — County officials held the first of what is usually two meetings to determine salary increases for the county’s elected officials, on Tuesday. While no action was taken, the discussion of the Elected Officials’ Compensation Committee leaned toward increasing the base salary of […]
Taxpayers save $1.7 million in county jail bond sale
Originally published in the 9/29/17 print edition of Yellowstone County News. BILLINGS — Good news for county taxpayers! The bond sale to finance the addition to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility (YCDF) was much better for county taxpayers than even best expectations. On Tuesday, County Commissioners approved a $9.7 million general obligation bond sale at […]
County’s taxable value up 4.6 percent
Originally published in the 8/25/17 print edition of Yellowstone County News. BILLINGS — The total taxable value of property in Yellowstone County increased 4.6 percent in FY 2016-17. About half that increase is due to the construction of new property or what might be called the addition of new value to the total of assets […]
Balancing next county budget is a juggling act
Originally published in the print edition of the Yellowstone County News. BILLINGS — Probably never before has Yellowstone County faced so many building needs going into the budget-setting process. Most of that need is being driven by unprecedented demand on the judicial system, from law enforcement and jail expansion, to accommodating additional judges and […]
Voters to be asked to OK county jail addition loan
Originally published in the weekly print edition of the Yellowstone County News. BILLINGS — Following department head discussions on Thursday, Yellowstone County Commissioners on Tuesday, approved placing a Resolution of Intent on the agenda next week calling for a public hearing to place a request on the June 7 primary ballot to increase the county’s […]
Jail funding may seek voter approval
Oringinally published in the weekly Yellowstone County New print edition. BILLINGS — Yellowstone County may be asking voters on the primary ballot on June 7 permission to borrow the funding needed to build a 148-bed addition to the jail. The request would not be for an increase in taxes, but to borrow the money needed, […]
Error leaves Pedestrian Safety District off Lockwood tax bills
LOCKWOOD — If Lockwood taxpayers closely examined their tax bills in November, they would have noticed that one tax was not included. Because it was new tax district, a snafu in the bookkeeping process resulted in the 10-mill levy for the Lockwood Pedestrian Safety District not being assessed. It simply wasn’t listed in the taxing […]