MISSOULA - Missoula County approved its budget on Thursday, with the commissioners approving an 8% increase in county property taxes.
It's important to note that even with the 8% increase, roughly half of county residents will see their property taxes decrease overall for 2026, due to changes in tax law made by the legislature last session.
“We are in a very fiscally constrained situation, and I think this budget will basically keep the status quo and allow us to continue delivering the level of services that we have been delivering with a very few exceptions to that,” said Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier.
Watch to learn more about the Missoula County budget:
The county has an $80.5 million budget, with a $4.6 million increase in revenue for 2026 due to the 8% increase in property taxes. Much of the increase will go to county staff wages and healthcare costs.
County taxes make up roughly 30% of a property owner's total tax bill in Missoula County, unless residents live within city limits, where the county taxes go to services the county is legally required to provide.
The reason most county property owners will see a decrease in their overall taxes is due to changes the state legislature made to taxable values.
Taxable value is the market value of a home times the tax rate set for the class of property. For properties worth less than roughly $1 million, the taxable value was decreased by the legislature.
The Missoula County Commission also approved for voter-approved levies to be transitioned over to dollar-based levies instead of mills. This essentially means that the levies will be able to account for the rate of inflation.
