Money for the county museum may be added to Jefferson County's draft $12.9 million budget, following a request at Tuesday's preliminary budget public hearing.

The final budget for fiscal year 2008-2009 goes to public hearing Sept. 16 at 1:30 p.m.

The commission discussed a letter from Museum Board Chairwoman Sherry Carlson requesting $10,000 to $12,000 to add hours for Susie Lindsay, who has served as a part-time, temporary employee.

Carlson wrote that the museum "desperately needed" funding.

It is planning six months of exhibits this coming year, including a Smithsonian covered-bridges exhibit and a Lee Sillimon exhibit of Montana ghost towns.

Recently the commission voted down placing a 2-mill museum levy on the ballot. This means the museum may face a two-year wait before it can put the levy before voters.

Some final budget revisions include a $16,539 savings in economic development, and $47,851 in the solid waste department.

The commission also fielded several questions about its use of metal mines trust funds in the draft budget, Tom Lythgoe said.

For the first time, the county is tapping into a metal mines entitlement fund that it previously hasn't used -- allocating $204,038 to the general fund.

The county annually receives $27,545 of these entitlement monies and can use them at the commission's discretion, Lythgoe said.

The budget also uses $65,000 from the Hard Rock Mine Trust Fund for a Montana City water sewer district study.

This trust fund has received a lot of public scrutiny and comment in recent years. It's meant to be a rainy day fund to deal with eventual closure of hard rock mines in the county.

However, it can legally be used for such activities as the sewer plan, said Lythgoe.

On the Web

Click here to read an earlier story about the Jefferson County 2008-2009 budget.

Reporter Marga Lincoln: 447-4074 or marga.lincoln@helenair.com