MISSOULA — Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis' 2027 budget includes a nearly 4% property tax increase.
That increase did not land well with some city council members, like Bob Campbell, who announced amendments to cut the budget this week.
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“This is born out of frustration of mine for several years, even before my time on council, where we've seen tax increase after tax increase. I mean, some of them have been double-digit. We're driving people out of their homes,” said Council Member Bob Campbell.
Campbell says he's concerned about the city's budget gap, adding a clerical error over the amount of funds required for newly-negotiated police wages motivated his proposals to cut the budget.
The negotiations with the Police Union ultimately led to a $1.3 million increase in wages, which were not initially factored into the 2026 budget.
“Looking at FY 26, obviously it was a failure in terms of reducing our structural deficit and adding to our reserve fund for the city,” said Campbell.
Campbell says in an effort to reduce the deficit and close the gap, he's introduced proposed cuts to some city staff and partnerships as well as increasing certain fees for building permits.
“You look at our budget allocation year after year. 80% of that is wages. I mean, we've known that for years. It's been the case for years, but we've never seemed to have a discussion about that major expenditure. So this year, you know, with these amendments, I hope to at least bring that to the table and have a serious discussion about that,” said Campbell.
However, all six of Campbell's proposed cuts and fee increases failed to get traction. Mayor Davis defended her proposal, saying stabilizing the budget is a years-long process.
“We need to ensure that our revenues are growing faster than our expenses so as not to create destabilizing cuts. We need to maintain creative solutions on both revenues and expenses, with tools that we have available like the remittance. That is proposed for this calendar year or fiscal year. This path could take several years, but it will be a thoughtful and predictable path that maintains our services and does not create a large tax increase or reduce services that our residents expect,” said Davis.
Final adoption of the budget is expected to take place Monday, August 17th at City Council’s regular meeting.
