MISSOULA — In order to sustain current operations, Missoula County's proposed budget for the new fiscal year is seeking around $5.7 million in increased property taxes.
The county on Thursday unveiled its proposed budget, citing the need to increase various mills and fund both one-time and ongoing services. The majority of the requested increase will fund a jump in cost-of-living, employee wages and medical insurance costs.
“Over the past several months, staff has been working across departments on the budget and commissioners have been hearing the needs from the departments in the form of enhancement requests,” said county CAO Chris Lounsbury. “Property taxes are both in the control of local government, but we also share the responsibility with the state of Montana.”
The value of a person's property is determined by the Montana Department of Revenue. The tax rate for each property class is also set by the Legislature.
Starting this year, residents who owned their home in the previous year can apply for a one-time state rebate of $400 to offset taxes. For properties under $400,000, the Legislature also lowered the tax rate from 1.35% to 0.76.% Properties valued from $400,001 to $1.5 million, the rate increased to 1.1%
“What we're doing this year will look different than next year,” Lounsbury said. “That will cause some fluctuation in tax bills just based on the rate changes that are occurring in those two years.”
The county's budget calls for a 3% cost-of-living increase for non-union staff, along with an increase ranging 3% to7% for union employees. While the county has made headway in recent years, it's still seeing challenges in recruiting and retaining employees at the detention center, sheriff's office and 9-1-1 services, among other areas.
“We're seeing real challenges in our public safety infrastructure and our infrastructure across Missoula County in general,” Lounsbury said. “We're facing real challenges in addressing the issues around that.”
Those concerns, including funding for roads and bridges, he added.
The preliminary budget calls for an operational increase of $4.5 million in the county-wide levy. The mills are paid by all county residents and commissioners have control over the values. Among them, the county is seeking a $1.1 million increase to the general fund, a $235,000 increase to the library and $2.3 million more for detention.
But the county also has mills paid only by county residents who live outside the city. Those mills are set to increase by $846,000. Between the two mill classes, the county is seeking $5.7 million in additional property tax revenue this year to fund its base budget.
“We know that our residential and our commercial values have gone up,” said Lounsbury. “Our anticipation is that in the long run, there's a potential to bring these numbers down. We won't know that until August when we get the certified taxable values back from the state.”
As it stands, the county-wide mill increases will cost a $300,000 home around $31 per year in additional taxes and $71 more for a home valued at $600,000. County-only residents will pay $5 a year for a $300,000 home and $12 more for $600,000 home, along with the county-wide mill increase.
With the budgets nearly set, both the city and the county are now waiting on the state to release its new taxable values. Those figures will hold sway over the budget, either leading to greater tax increases or a potential decrease.
The city is seeking a tax increase for its FY26 budget of roughly 3.5%. Both the city and county budgets must statutorily be adopted by the end of August.
