Missoula County Fiscal Year 2024 Budget
The Missoula County commissioners adopted the fiscal year 2024 budget on Sept. 7.
The Missoula County commissioners adopted the fiscal year 2024 budget on Sept. 7.
You can find answers to frequently asked questions in the FAQ widget on the right-hand side.
Expected revenue from property taxes to fund the budget is $70.6 million, a 5.4% increase over last year. The CPI inflation rate over the past 12 months is 5.97%.
The $3.6 million increase in tax revenue mainly covers the increase to the County’s base budget needed to sustain current services and operations. Increases to wages and healthcare costs for the County’s 855 FTEs across 30 departments that provide essential government services accounts for most of the base budget increase.
The tax impacts of the adopted budget will differ depending on where a resident lives within the county. For property within Missoula city limits, residents will pay $251 in total County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or about $21 a month. For properties outside Missoula city limits, residents will pay $314.96 in total County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or $26.25 a month. (Please note that those numbers reference the total taxes owed per $100,000, not the increase from last year.)
About 85% of Missoula County’s employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements, and the County negotiates those agreements in good faith each year and also budgets for increases to non-union employees. This includes increasing wages for employees in chronically understaffed departments that provide critical public safety services, such as sheriff's deputies, detention officers and 9-1-1 dispatchers.
In addition to the base budget, the commissioners approved new requests to improve services and operations. The bulk of these are one-time requests that must be paid for with savings from previous fiscal years so they do not impact property tax bills. The commissioners also approved a handful of new requests to fund ongoing improvements, including new staff.
The commissioners received dozens of requests from departments across the County this year, and they declined to fund $1.84 million in new spending. This includes denying ongoing funding for $1.1 million in requests for 13.5 new full-time positions and four promotions. A detailed list of the approved requests is available under the Documents section on the right-hand side of this page.
The commissioners accepted public comment on the budget until the final budget hearing on Sept. 7.
Who's Listening
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Phone 406-258-4919 Email aczorny@missoulacounty.us -
Phone 406-258-3293 Email clounsbury@missoulacounty.us
Priorities (given rate of growth of the county budget over the last few years)
Keep property taxes no greater than 2022 level
Road Maintenance
Fire protection
Law Enforcement and detention
Essential health service for those in need
Things to cut back on:
Do not take on additional Permissive Levies/Bond proposals as the city of Bozeman is doing
Reduce funding for Parks and Recreation
Eliminate grants and Community programs
Reduce planned expenditure for office space in the Old Post Office/Federal building
Eliminate Child care provider training
Eliminate spending on DEI personnel and programs
Limit spending on homeless shelter until a reasonable strategy for dealing with people who can but won't work, drug and alcohol addicts is in place. Focus on results, not intentions.
OVERALL: Given the increases in the County Budget over the last 5-7 years, continuing inflation and high cost of shelter it is important to back off unessential programs. OVERALL: Given the increases in the County Budget over the last 5-7 years, continuing inflation, and high cost of shelter it is important to back off unessential programs. The increases in property tax we have seen recently are seriously stressing low income families, as well as those on fixed incomes.
Please prioritize those projects that leverage the power of local decision-making to mitigate some of the impacts on the most vulnerable of the challenges we are facing as a nation, and a planet (like income inequality, global warming, racial and social inequities/disparities.) Those people and interests who already have power and resources will be able to use their power and resources to grow their wealth and ensure their security; those without power and resources only have their communities and the collective will of local institutions to rely on in order to avoid the worst outcomes.
Please prioritize: government waste; lower the cost of building, i.e. permitting and any other costs associated with building; reduce, remove bike lanes where sidewalks exist that hinder vehicular traffic, we need another bridge in the western part of Missoula.