MISSOULA — Presentations for the 2026 budget continued during Monday evening's Missoula City Council meeting, with a key point being the city expecting to see a 3.5% increase, or $4.4 million, in revenue for 2026.
Watch: Missoula City Council hears plans for next year's budget:
Much of that increase would go to city staff wage increases.
The increase in revenue comes from several sources, one being the fire levy passed by voters last election, an increase in property values and special road and park districts.
City officials plan to use 79% of the increased revenue to fund wage increases for city staff, specifically for police and fire, as the two alone make up 40% of the total wage increases.
Council members had few questions about the budget presentation, although council member Bob Campbell asked how the mayor’s budget planned to use remittances, the transfer of funds between state, federal and local governments.
“I know it's in the area somewhere around $3 million. Some of it's going to be, I think it was previously mentioned, directly invested into some street or perhaps infrastructure projects, but a good chunk of it too is going to be taken out,” Campbell said.
City of Missoula Chief Administrative Officer Dale Bickell said that much of the revenue would go to the deficit the city’s general fund has.
“So, the mayor's budget includes $3 million of additional one-time revenues to the general fund to help balance that budget, and that's needed because of that ongoing budget deficit that I referenced,” Bickell said.
Public hearings for the final approval of the budget have been set, with the final public hearing taking place on August 18.
Additional public hearings have been planned for August 6, August 11 and August 13.
