MISSOULA — Members of the Missoula City Council on Wednesday resisted several amendments that would have added more costs to the FY26 budget, though they also declined to remove other spending requests from the budget.
The city is knee-deep in its annual budgeting process and is expected to adopt the budget this month for the new fiscal year. As it stands, Mayor Andrea Davis has proposed a $4.4 million budgetary increase, much of which goes to fund wages.
“Even to meet our existing service needs, let alone the growth needs we have, we need to figure out some target that would feel workable to our residents while keeping the cost-of-living increase in mind,” Davis said.
On Wednesday, council members introduced a number of budget amendments, most of which would have added costs and pushed the proposed 3.5% tax increase even higher.
Among them, council member Daniel Carlino pushed to add $214,000 to the city's sidewalk program. The measure ultimately failed.
“Without an addition to the sidewalk fund, we're going to be building less sidewalks in Missoula,” Carlino said. “This change is to cover the cost of what we lost by changing the sidewalk assessment.”
Council member Eric Melson also sought to add $48,000 to the budget to fund one part-time position within the city's urban forestry program. Doing so would have given the department two functional crews to address the city's aging tree canopy.
“It's about risk mitigation, not beautification,” Melson said of his request. “Our aging tree canopy is at a tipping point. “Every season we delay proactive (tree) removal, we compound liability, public safety risks and future costs.”
Watch related coverage: City of Missoula expecting to see 3.5% increase in revenue for 2026
While council members agreed that the urban forest needs to be addressed, they were reluctant to add the cost to this year's budget.
“I'm not going to be supporting any budget increases this year,” said council member Sandra Vasecka. “The mayor did excellent due diligence in not increasing taxes more than we could bear. I believe the urban forest is important, but keeping people in their homes is more important.”
Davis agreed that the urban forest needs work and she pledged to work with Parks and Recreation to address forestry concerns. But she added that nearly all city departments brought forward legitimate funding requests, and not all made it into the budget.
“I'm committed to working with you and city departments in regard to our tree canopy as an important element of our climate response,” Davis said. “But we're constantly facing the trade-off in how we afford those things with the current tax structure our city is dependent on.”
Council members also opposed an amendment introduced by council member Bob Campbell to add $25,000 to the budget to address training shortfalls within the Missoula Police Department. However, council members did approve the department's $6,800 request to fund a digital evidence tool.
While keeping the budget from ballooning played a key role among council members during Wednesday's deliberations, they did oppose Vasecka's amendment to pull $75,000 from the budget to modernize the city's website.
Better communications stand as one of the city's top goals and the website is seen as a step in improving that effort, advocates said.
“This is not just how we present ourselves to the rest of the community,” said council member Mirtha Becerra. “But it's an engagement tool where we can have better communication with our constituents.”
Other funding additions will be debated next week, including a request for $115,000 for a community engagement specialist at Parks and Recreation, and a proposal to pull $52,000 earmarked for Marshall Mountain maintenance.