Countywide vs. County-Only Taxes

Property owners are taxed differently depending on where their property is in the county.

• Countywide: all Missoula County property owners, including those who live within Missoula city limits.
• County-only: in addition to countywide taxes, property owners outside the Missoula city limits pay county-only taxes rather than city taxes.

What's the reason for this difference? City residents pay for certain department budgets, such as the road department, health department and animal control, through their City of Missoula taxes. County residents pay for these services through their county taxes, but they don't pay city taxes.

A more accurate, oranges-to-oranges comparison of city resident taxes vs. county resident taxes: for city residents, you would need to take “city taxes + countywide taxes,” and for county residents, take “countywide taxes + county-only taxes."

For the most comprehensive, specific breakdown of your taxes, go to https://itax.missoulacounty.us/itax/ There, you can enter your info (name and address are sufficient) and it will pull up the tax info for your property.

Can county governments raise property taxes as much as they want?

No. Montana law imposes limits on how much property tax revenue local governments can bring in each year. This is often referred to as the “mill cap” and is determined by a formula that limits property tax increases to half the rate of inflation from the previous three years. It is also based on the previous year's tax revenue. Voted levies are not included in this equation. The theory behind this limit is to allow government budgets to keep pace with economic changes while maintaining a base level of services from the previous year.

Additional limits to county spending include:

• Debt limit: County governments are unable to issue debt for more than $2 million for any purpose without voter approval.
• Restrictions on use of funds: The line items on your tax bill show where county tax revenue goes. Much of our tax revenue is restricted. Money that is collected does not all go into one account that can be divided up. Funds must be spent on the purpose they were collected for. For example, money that is designated for the Elections Center or the Public Safety Fund cannot be used for Animal Control or the Fairgrounds.
• Restrictions on use of voter-approved funds: When voters approve a bond or levy, the money must be spent in line with the ballot language voters approved. For example, the County cannot decide to use open space bond funds for any other service or expense, like housing or public safety.