Missoula County Fiscal Year 2024 Budget

I don't necessarily oppose a 5.4 increase in the County's budget. Inflation affects their costs just like it does mine.

My concern, based on emails I've received from the County, is that their budget requirements aren't the basis for setting the tax rate (mill levy).

My taxes for an example:
My property's assessed value in 2021 was $479,400. My 2023 assessed value is $779,600. This results in a 63% increase to the taxable value which the County uses to evaluate my tax bill.
1) Why would the tax rate need to increase to provide 5.4% more income to cover the County's budgetary needs? The increased assessed value alone will provide them with 63% more revenue.
2) Why is the County not lowering it's tax rate when the overall taxable value of residential property statewide has increased 46%?
As I see it, Missoula County has seen a huge increase in total assessed value. To provide a 5.4% increase to revenue the rate doesn't need to increase, it should decrease.
In my case, keeping the same tax rate as last year would result in a 2023 County tax bill of $2629 vs $1617 in 2022. That increase is far more than 5.4%.

As taxpayers, we should be able to see the County's projected revenue based on proposed budget and rate. This should include both increased tax base (total assessed value in county) and the increased tax rate. The total taxes collected should match the proposed budget.

In my opinion, our tax base will expand automatically with the increased building in our area. We do not need to be doling out TIF money, raising taxes, or acquiring assets that remove more tax revenue from our tax rolls. The new golf course and one thousand homes going in at Lolo Ranch will also contribute to our tax base. Here are the services I can live without: 1) "$900,000 contribution" of TIF funds going to the Johnson Street Shelter. THIS is not what TIF was designed for; TIF monies are generated solely by property taxes. To arbitrarily assign $900k of TIF funds to Johnson Street Shelter in my opinion, appears to be misappropriation of funds and a violation of the Montana Constitution, Article II, Part II, Section 3. 2) Temporary Safe Outdoor Space Contribution- in my opinion, the city of Missoula and Missoula County are not in compliance with ARPA in that there is no mandate for a commitment to sobriety which contributes to the needles, drug paraphernalia, trash, abuse to citizens and their property, crime and disorderly conduct. Not requiring sobriety to use our facilities and services gives the appearance that the county and the city condone drug use, alcoholism, abuse, crime and disorderly conduct which invites more of the same. 3) Operations and Maintenance of Marshall Mountain Park- government doesn't need to be in the landlord business and they don't need to remove properties from the tax rolls. Marshall Mountain has been for sale for...how many years??!! If it was such a good proposition, someone would have bought it years ago. There are more than 90 parks and over 40 miles of shared-use paths; we have more recreational areas in our county than anywhere else and we can't even take care of what we currently have. 4) Recreation economic impact study- we already know how much revenue tourists provide due to previous reports. 5) Big sky Passenger Rail Authority Support- it is my understanding this rail service failed previously, therefore, it was discontinued. Are we repeating this? 6) This one is an exception in the other direction; Missoula Child Care Advantage- this budget line item should be INCREASED to at least $60,000, up from $30,000, and include day use of a clean and healthful environment for mothers AND their children. The space should include two visible but separate from the children, computer work spaces for mothers who need to apply for a job, etc. This is due to the county and city do not require sobriety in our shelter which creates an unsafe and unhealthy space for children. 7) Housing Study Consultant- yes we need more rental properties due to Landlords want out of the rental business with so many tenants smoking and/or cooking meth inside their properties which results in major expenditures to the landlord for remediation. And with the increase in demand for homes in the area, I understand why landlords want to exit the rental market. Dirt bags smoking meth inside vehicles is another issue and a vehicle cannot be remediated. 8) Bill Tracker Software- this information is readily available online, they can follow up as the rest of us do. 9) Phase II Fairgrounds improvement- what has happened to philanthropy? Are there no pillars of society left in our area?? So much has been built with PRIVATE funds in the past, yet, nowadays, everyone wants a handout from tax payers. The Washington Grizzly Stadium, the U of M Arts building, one other building who's name escapes me, Community Hospital, and others. 10) Rocky Mountain Garden Program Coordinator- this project would be better served to be handled by philanthropic funds. 11) Cultural and Recreation Director promotion 12) Maintenance and Stewardship Specialist 13) Matching Grants for Parks and Trails.
14) I also object to the County Auditor's change in handling RFPs. Bids should be sealed bids, based on merit, not on identity, this is just another form of discrimination and is a disservice to taxpayers and businesses alike, which I believe will reduce the numbers of companies that will bids on county and/or city projects. Per spb.mt.gov/vendor-resources/preferences# "Montana law does not grant preference to small businesses or disadvantaged businesses, including women- or minority-owned companies."
15) Somewhere in Missoula County training curriculum, employees are receiving training on "post traumatic slavery syndrome." The definition being - “This manifests as a psychological, spiritual, emotional, and behavioral syndrome that results in a lack of self-esteem, persistent feelings of anger, and internalized racist beliefs.” In my opinion, this is a catch all baloney way to make excuses for zero accountability and we're being scammed.
Sincerely, Liz Heaney

I don't see the benefit of this increases in this proposed budget, it is hard enough to make ends meet. The city needs to cut back on spending and increasing your wages do not help, I agree with why Marshall Mountain, Pet Commissioner, Rescuing and sheltering stray pets, Funding Museum, as well as Rocky Mtn Garden, just to name a few. It also seems like you have increased. the size of your area which should reduce the tax burden not cost the property taxpayers more.

Removed by moderator.

Limiting growth of the county budget to 5.4% is in addition to the increases enjoyed over the last 3-5 or more years. The approach does not seem straight forward in that daylighting what could be reduced is not daylighted.

Regardless of the reasons the following has occurred:
CPI 2020-2023: 17%
Change in property taxes 2022-2023: 11%
Change in property taxes 2017-2023: 52%
Change in Property taxes 2012-2023: 40%

Why do these increases not temper the increase proposed for 2024?
Is there nothing that can be defunded from past budget years to help reduce the burden?
There are so "many nice to do's" in the budget and items not yet funded that it seems possible to temper the increase in costs.
Why do we need "Rocky Mountain Gardens program coordinator and staff", or "Culture and Recreation Director promotion", or Operations and maintenance of Marshall Mountain Park?
How does these fit in with essential government services, much less serve people outside the city limits and contiguous areas?

It seems as though the Maintenance and stewardship specialist is not essential. There seems to be an outsized visiion for the Parks department for a county of 121,000 people.
I think, as other commenters have observed, that many people outside the city limits do not benefit for some of the costly expenditures imposed by the city with county support.
We have 2 million acres of public land surrounding Missoula. Why do we need Marshall Mountain? Why do we need more open space other than that in neighborhoods?

I have read all your remaining budget items in the news feed. I think targeting your spending based on inflation, only adds to inflation. I had to cut back on my spending to cope with inflation, the county should as well. The addition of any positions is not acceptable to me.
Why not get local groups to maintain trails and recreation areas? I do not support additions to park and recreation systems and they will require ongoing expenditures.

Pet commissioner? Poor use of resources for a warm and fuzzy.

I could support upgrades in technology and equipment efficiency.

Before any increases I believe these areas need to be reduced or eliminated;
Providing home visits and assistance to families with newborns

Ensuring equitable access to government services

Rescuing and sheltering stray pets

Responding to public health emergencies

Responding to infectious disease outbreaks

Working to reduce community carbon emissions

Providing help for people navigating the justice system

I’m glad to see that there are very few ongoing new employee positions in the preliminary budget requests, as those are the most expensive requests over time with the highest tax implications. Between inflation and the constraints of the tax system, the commissioners and department staff would have to severely cut their work and lay off staff to see a noticeable decrease in budget size, which would directly translate to the communities we live in. Plus, with some home valuations increasing 40-60%, these drastic cuts wouldn’t matter as those with high-value (as deemed by the state) would see their taxes go up and their level of service go down.

What concerns me most is the pressure to narrow the scope of county government to do just one “thing” (be that affordable housing, addressing homelessness, etc). I think good fiscal management can allow for a decades-long project like Marshall Mountain to happen while also investing in the Public Works department today. Government funding isn’t always and either/or situation. I support the preliminary budget.

I am opposed to spending money on JEDI, DEI, and Marshall Mountain. The health department wasted a ton of money on Covid, so I hope that never happens again.
The YMCA and other groups have been able to raise plenty of private money for their pet projects. Make the bicycling clubs fund their special recreation area on Marshall Mountain.
Be honest with taxpayers about how much you are spending on the homeless. People are compassionate, but mostly disagree with the extreme amount of money both the city and the county are spending per homeless person. Include all the personnel, supplies, food, medical, etc. I'm sure you would be shocked and it will explain why they keep coming to Missoula from every corner of the country. The taxpayers need to be able to decide whether the help is worth it. As your own homeless coordinator calls it an "industry". Please change this thinking.

Dear Commissioners,
It is clear the people of Missoula County have concerns regarding the rise in taxes and high cost of living. Like with any financial challenge, the logical choice is to buckle down and reduce superfluous costs. I have taken some time to watch your budget meeting, listen to the tip of the spear podcast, and read this website to see how exactly local government works and how taxes function. I still have a lot to learn but in a short amount of time have learned a lot. So thanks for putting all this together.

I see a variety of one time and ongoing requests that are simply not necessary and just a not priority right now. Key words: right now; when your citizen are hurting, struggling to stay afloat to pay rent, buy food, get an education. Even those who were doing ok financially are now are needing second jobs to support themselves and their families. As a homeowner outside city limits with rising property taxes, and someone who works in and spends time in the city proper, continued rising taxes are going to crushing for my finances and my family's goals for the future. Please consider denying further projects to free up some taxes from our citizens.

Things like funding the Forestry Museum, the Rail Authority Study, or The Rocky Mountain Gardens. These are great and nice ideas but, please just not at this time. Funding a cultural recreation director position and for that matter any JEDI positions, particularly interns who checking an internship box and leaving the county after their service. There are laws in place already to prevent discrimination and to encourage diverse hiring and practices. This community has little information about what the JEDI employees do in the county and why that is truly necessary and a priority.

I believe county priorities should lie more with funding law enforcement and the detention center given the rising rate of crime and lawlessness. They should lie with funding fire depts hiring, training, and supplies to battle fire season and provide public safety. It should lie with 911 support, access to public health and health resources.

Homelessness is a problem, clearly. Providing shelter is a hurdle but also just a band-aid. How can the county incentivize those people to stop relying on the government and encourage them to find purpose, work towards their mental health issues, find jobs and contribute to our County. Can we find jobs these people can do in exchange for shelters? Food? If you want to fund new positions, fund a position that can address these sorts of issues. That would actually be worthwhile. We can see from larger cities around us that just housing people will not get us to the root cause of the problems homeless folks face.

All things that I feel can wait for funding at this point and are not necessary now: Technology updates, exterior building maintenance, parks, housing and incubation studies, loan assistance for election center, museum, fairgrounds, JEDI and Food policy interns, even the animal control shelter as much as I hate to say it. Funding for that one can be found outside of taxes, I know it.

In a perfect world we would fund all of this. But at this point, people are struggling and want to know the county commissioners are listening. Please consider denying more funding for some of these projects to reduce the hard earned dollars Missoulians have to give back. Every dollar counts these days. Thanks for your time, your service to the county, and for listening to feedback.

Right now, there is a clear delineation between the residents and their new developments in East Missoula, and those of us who have stayed in Least Missoula, on the original avenues and streets. We watch as water mains and streetlights and sidewalks, as roads are improved and safety is considered. We watch, because you have created a divide, resentment, by digging into the purse of an entire community, but devoting your attention to providing extra amenities and building incentives for people who don’t need it. Three blocks away, the original neighborhoods have no representation, nor the cash to create a fiefdom like Canyon River. We also do not have sidewalks, lights, parking, and our utilities haven’t been updated in decades. What we do have are enormous increases in our taxes, thanks to the attractive shiny objects you keep building. One by one, we are being forced out of our neighborhoods, priced out, and the elderly, disabled, and those that rent manufactured homes are just the first wave—in Least Missoula, we open our tax bills, and cannot identify one capital improvement in decades. If we were treated with equity, and our original neighborhoods could identify any improvements to justify our new valuations, there would not be division. Please stop spending money on parking and bathrooms at a fishing access, a community garden that will never feed the real number of hungry families, and keeping the lights on at our ghost town public school. This is a crisis. Open the Mount Jumbo school for social services, housing for all of those you have displaced, or a functioning food bank. Least Missoula will always struggle to keep up with gentrification, so please fund projects that are tangible and necessary and that make our struggle seem worth it. Give us equitable resources and consideration, or give us a seat at the table with actual power. Look at the crime stats, look closely at the clusters of abject poverty, look at where the homeschooled kids live. If you can’t see the two realities of East Missoula, you don’t deserve to represent the good souls I am proud to call neighbors.

The county is not part of the city. The city is part of the county. Why should folks who do not reside in Missoula city foot the bill for another homeless shelter? We are already grossly overtaxed for services we generally do not use. It's a tough year for folks, let's get back to the basics of funding schools, fire, the MCSO and basic infrastructure. The city is a mess, and it is in large part due to funding for special projects and services that have little or nothing to do with traditional municipal governance. One small example is Marshall Mountain. It would be lovely for the city and county to partner up and buy this, but not right now when people are struggling to pay bills and buy food. Same can be said for the federal building renovation. Not the right time.

On your website you state “ What Missoula County chooses to fund in its budget is a direct reflection of community values.” How can this meet the commonly accepted scope of responsibilities of local government.
This approach says to me “We got elected so we will set priorities based on the desires of those who elected us. “ I understand. But it does not give you permission to burden County taxpayers with cost imposed by a small number of proponents, or outside the reasonable scope of local government. The County budget should include the necessities of law enforcement, fire protection, road management, and to an extent schools.
Other programs and activities should be subject to public vote.
I suggest you drop those programs and activities t that do not effectively benefit the county’s residents.
I think the following should not be in the County budget:
small programs that don’t demonstrate recognizable benefits to most of us including your DEI program and staffing (does anybody have a clear view of what this is or entails. It certainly appears to be headed to a discriminatory system.
Participation in the sky rail authority. (Is this a hobby horse)

Providing help for people navigating the justice system (help is already available thru public defenders- that seems like a reasonable limit for local government)
Securing grant funding for County services
Providing home visits and assistance to families with newborns (persona responsibility)
Ensuring equitable access to government services (I’m not sure what this means, in addition to being discriminatory). (virtue signaling plain and simple)
Working to reduce community carbon emissions (virtue signaling plain and simple)
Managing parks, trails and open lands (managing what we have and not Adding to it, e.g. acquisition of Marshall Mountain property). We are surrounded by public land - the Lolo National Forest.
Hosting historic artifacts and teaching history at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Why is this a local government responsibility?
Checking watercraft for aquatic invasive species (the Fish and game department does this.)
Local governments are not substitutes for families.

Some of this sounds hard hearted, but there are a lot of people who can’t afford more of a burden.

Prioritize items that all county residents use/benefit from and drop programs tailored to particular needs/demographics.
--Public safety (e.g. 911, hazmat, crimes, safety inspections NOT homeless services, programs navigating justice system, social services' crisis response team);
--Public user spaces (e.g. plow/maintain existing roads, parks, boat inspections, libraries, politically neutral museum, NOT personalized carbon/energy reductions, not JEDI/DEI/DEIA or other 'equity' or 'social/moral modification' kinds of programs (generally or at libraries/public spaces), not demographically targeted help (downpayment assistance, favored-demographic subsidies or 'reduced' feed, housing occupancy restrictions, "smart growth"/"land use" with social engineering goals, immigrant/refugee resettlement programs).
--Public health (essential immunizations, emergencies, community-wide provision of essential, AMA-approved, health services not provided by religious health systems, not home visits for new babies, day care trainings, no-kill shelters for abandoned pets, unlimited medical care for targeted demographics)
--Public fee/licenses. Continue to recoup reasonable user fees, but charge everyone the same (no differences for seniors, the poor, vets, minorities, disabled etc.)

First point: Please draft and adopt a resolution that property taxes will never increase annually for anyone by more than the official COLA increase. It is very difficult to make a good argument against this. The costs for running the county aren't tethered to property prices. They are tethered to inflation, which is a calculation that excludes home value precisely because it is so volatile. This should have been fixed in 2008. It's past time.

From there, we can all infinitely quibble about funding priorities, but here's a principle that is sorely missing from the public discourse, and especially public policy: If someone can't pay their taxes, you have the right to take their home. That ought to set a threshold on what is and isn't appropriate to spend the money on. It ought to be exclusively for things that are so clearly in the public benefit of all that it is worth violating the property rights of some.

While most would agree that *reasonable* costs for education, police, and firefighting are justified, from there the disagreements will vary. However, how anyone can justify supporting property tax funded public entertainment (the fair, the museum) at the point of a gun is beyond me. Beyond entertainment, I don't know how charity can be considered to be a valid use of property tax. That is the domain of non-profits, not county government. Let everyone who would like to donate to that do it voluntarily, not through the extortion of property taxes.

Meanwhile, I have serious issues with the use of county property tax to fund programs that are regional in nature. I could give you a long list of people who live in Greenough and Seeley who agree with me on these points. Every single person I know out here has very strong feelings about how the taxes are spent, and none of us are happy. We are gouged annually for services that we get little to no benefit from. The parks, the library, the homeless--these are Missoula city projects, not Missoula county problems. Let the city pay for city projects.

My feedback would be to not increase the already high taxes citizens of Missoula County are facing. If having to cut back on some programs is what it takes then so be it. As a homeowner or even an individual if I don't make enough money then what is my alternative? That generally means cutting back in areas to preserve the money I do make. This is no different. Here is what I would suggest cutting back on in this order:
1. Put a wage freeze in for the elected officials or at least cut back on the wage increase each year. Those in the higher positions do not need a 10% increase in their wage when the county workers are only getting 2.5% per year (for a couple years we did get 4.25% split up into two time periods). Make the wage increases the same as the employees.

2. Stop supporting or at least reduce the support provided to the Temporary Safe Outdoor Space and other homeless programs. I feel for those who are homeless and although I have never been in that situation, I know from my years of working in the Court system, homelessness is not just a circumstance but at times it is a decision. Until there is a system in place that will actually help the people obtain the mental health assistance they require, the job coaching they require, and the drug assistance they require, you will still have a group who choose to remain homeless. No where in the documents I signed when I purchased any of my homes, did it say it was my responsibility to pay for programs for people who do not want to help themselves. And I know the ones, as I walked past them everyday on the Courthouse lawn for 10 years.

3. I am not sure what type of help you are discussing when talking about navigating the justice system. I know of the Self help law center which is run by the State and used AmeriCorps individuals. That is run by grants and state funding. There should be no taxes for the county involved with this service.

4. The Fair. It is a joke the way it is in today's world. I would rather see you use the space on a year round basis as a Civic Center or some type of arena such as that.

5. Take a fiscal year off of planning for smart growth. There is nothing smart about the way Missoula or Missoula County is growing.

There are items on your list you mention that are not ever going to go away because they are safety items. Those include 9-1-1, road maintenance, criminal prosecution, law enforcement and detention officers. You should never even put those on the list. The one that does strike me as odd is the item where you mention issuing Marriage Licenses, Birth Certificates, and other records. There are fees charged for each of these services. Marriage Licenses are issued by the Clerk of Court office which although is run by the county the fees are controlled through MCA 25-1-201. The office is to charge for a whole list of items. Certified copies of Birth Certificates carry a fee as do copies of all records obtained by persons.

Thank you for taking the time to read my proposals

I know all resources are stretched and most people work long hours...but, 1) is there anything the sheriff's department could do to enforce the speed limit on Butler Creek Road? Often times vehicles pass pedestrians and bikers at such speed that it makes one quiver. 2) Do we have funds to sweep bike lanes so bikers can actually use them, and not ride in the streets? Thank you!

I am not "confused" about the purpose or calculation of property taxes. I am angry. Government has no business doing most of the tasks on your list. No point in conversing with the mayor or his bureaucrats; I will vote accordingly and encourage others to vote them out.