MISSOULA — Missoula County is looking to put an infrastructure levy on the ballot, requesting $1.8 million.
The money would mainly be used for bridge and road maintenance.
Missoula County currently has a budget of $7.8 million a year for road and bridge maintenance, but an assessment the county conducted in 2020, they should be spending roughly $23 million to $30 million a year on road and bridge maintenance.
The county says that despite this large deficit, if they plan carefully, this levy will help them meet their planning goals of maintaining the bridges within the county, as most bridges have a 75-year life span.
Missoula County Chief Public Works Officer Jason Mitchell says that without the funding for bridge and road maintenance now, costs will only continue to accrue, often with a higher price tag.
“A lot of these bridges were built in the early 1900s. And as you can imagine, everything's gone up. The cost of commercial construction goes up 6% to 8% a year on average. And so the cost of our bridges — to replace them — keeps going up and up," Mitchell told MTN. "So if we don't start now and start investing in our infrastructure, those costs are going to keep climbing until we see what we saw with Boy Scout Bridge, which is closure."
Taxpayers would see a slight increase in their property taxes under the proposal. Property taxes would increase by $3.80 for a home worth $100,000, $11.40 for home valued at $300,000 and $26.21 for a home valued $600,000.
Additional information about the proposed levy can be found here.
