FAQs
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.
Do the commissioners approve every budget request they get?
The commissioners regularly deny budget requests. For the fiscal year 2024 budget, they denied $1.84 million in new spending. Most of the denials were for new, ongoing staff positions, which become the largest expense over time. The commissioners denied $1.1 million in new ongoing spending for 13.5 new full-time positions and four promotions.
Does all money the County spends come from property tax dollars?
Of the money Missoula County spends, only around one-third of it comes from property taxes. The other two-thirds of the money the County spends comes from money passed down from the federal or state government, as well as from competitive grants the County applies for. Missoula County also encompasses Partnership Health Center, which is a Federally Qualified Healthcare facility that is not funded by property tax dollars.
For this reason, spending is not an accurate assessment of how the County will tax you. In years where the County seems to have spent lots of money, this money can often be linked back to grants received, such as the $13 million BUILD grant the County received to help build out the Mullan Road area, or to times when there was more federal or state money trickling down to local governments, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The graph below shows budget expenditures in comparison to revenue from property taxes from 2017 through 2023. Expenditures include examples listed above like PHC (federally funded), grants and other sources of revenue. Overall budget growth is not the same as property tax growth.
Are my tax dollars going up because of the County’s spending? I’ve seen a graph that showed County spending increasing a lot in the past few years.
To understand why your taxes increase, it's important to know that while your tax bill comes from Missoula County, it also includes taxes from the City, County, State, schools and other special districts you live in. Even if the County didn't raise taxes at all, your tax bill may still go up if other jurisdictions increase their revenue from property taxes.
You also may have seen claims that the County increasing spending in the past few years is directly correlated to an increase in property taxes. Only around one-third of the County's revenue comes from property tax dollars though; the rest of what the County spends comes from competitive grants, such as the $13 million BUILD grant the County received to help build out the Mullan Road area, or money passed down from the state or federal government, like COVID-19 relief aid. The County's total expenditures also include the budget for Partnership Health Center, which is a Federally Qualified Healthcare facility that does not receive any property tax dollars.
See the graph posted here for a more accurate assessment of how much County property taxes have gone up in the last few years. The graph shows total budget expenditures and revenue from property taxes compared to population growth and inflation from 2017 to 2023.
Can the County 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:
Can the County use any money it has to be spent on any service or project?
No. Much of the funding Missoula County receives, such as grants or bond funds, must go toward certain services or projects.
For example, funding the County, City and Metropolitan Planning Organization received to improve Highway 200 in East Missoula can't be spent to address homelessness. This funding is from a federal grant and must be spent on the specific project outlined in the grant application.
Another example: Funds Missoula County used to buy Marshall Mountain could not have been used to fix bridge infrastructure. This funding comes from voter-approved open space bonds, which must be used to pay for land or improvements that conserve and enhance open space land.
Missoula County can spend property tax dollars more broadly, but state law limits growth in property tax revenue. This means we rely heavily on grants and any other funding sources that don't require property tax dollars but have strict parameters on what the money can be spent on.
Does the County reappraise my property?
No. The County does not reappraise your property. The Montana Department of Revenue, a branch of state government, calculates property reappraisals. Reappraisals happen every two years, and the department last issued reappraisals in 2023.
Appraisals are intended to show the current assessed value of your property. The "assessed value" looks at location, comparable home sales and other factors and is not the same as the "fair market value," which is what the property could potentially sell for.
Though appraisals are a key factor in determining the property taxes you'll owe, the County has no authority to influence appraisals and when they happen. The Montana Legislature determines the frequency of appraisals. If you think appraisals should occur at a different frequency, contact your state legislators to let them know at https://leg.mt.gov/
When appraisal notices go out, if you think yours is inaccurate, you can appeal it within 30 days by submitting a request for informal review to the Montana Department of Revenue, or formally by appealing it at the County Tax Appeal Board. Though it's too late to appeal your reappraisal from 2023, keep this in mind for next time in 2025!
Missoula County is currently in the process of issuing the amended second half of your tax bill. You will receive a letter about this bill in the mail within the next week or so, and you can also view your amended second half bill at https://itax.missoulacounty.us/itax/
Did Missoula County and other local governments receive money directly from the federal government's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law?
No. When the federal government passes laws like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the money does not flow directly down to local governments. Instead, the states receive direct federal funding for state highways, and in the case of BIL, additional funding is placed into competitive grants that local governments may apply for.
For example, Missoula County is currently applying for the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant and Bridge Investment Program (BIP) grant to address bridge infrastructure, which would help fund improvements for multiple bridges that are in poor condition throughout the county. There are no guarantees of funding for applicants, so all costs associated with the applications are funded by the local governments.
Can elected officials just choose whatever salary they want?
Will creating a Targeted Economic Development District make my taxes automatically go up?
No. Living or owning a business in a TEDD does not automatically increase property taxes. Creating these districts ensures any increases in tax revenue stay in the area to fund infrastructure improvements, rather than going toward the general budgets of local taxing jurisdictions (like the County). Taxpayers located within a district pay the same amount of property tax as they would without the TEDD distinction.