Missoula County Fiscal Year 2025 Budget

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The Missoula County commissioners voted to approve the FY 25 budget at their Sept. 5 public meeting. Click here to see an interactive breakdown of department funding, expenses, revenue and more. View the final budget presentation and other budget documents under the Documents section to the right.

Expected revenue from property taxes to fund the budget is $73.6 million, a 4.2% increase over last year. This $3 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 employees accounts for most of the base budget increase.

Tax impacts

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 an additional $10.15 a year in County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or about 85 cents a month.

For properties outside Missoula city limits, residents will pay an additional $12.87 in County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or $1.07 a month. You can find the assessed value (also called market value) of your home by visiting itax.missoulacounty.us and look under the “2023 Value” box.

These residents will pay different amounts because property owners are taxed differently depending on where their property is located. All Missoula County property owners, including those who live within the limits of the City of Missoula, pay countywide taxes. In addition to the countywide taxes, property owners outside Missoula city limits pay county-only taxes (rather than city taxes).

Residents can use $100,000 as a point of reference to easily calculate the estimated taxes they’ll pay to the County. For example, if a resident has a home outside city limits valued at $520,000, they would multiply $12.87 times 5.2 to arrive at the estimate of $66.92 in County taxes.

Budget requests

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 future property tax bills. A handful of new requests to fund ongoing improvements, including new staff, were also approved.

Budget requests requiring new property tax revenue are listed below, and staff presented them to the commissioners at administrative public meetings in July and early August. Recordings of those presentations are available on the County's YouTube channel. The Aug. 1 presentation on the preliminary budget also included an overview of outstanding requests.

Budget overview

Each year, the Missoula County commissioners and county staff work together to create an annual budget for county services and operations. The budget is created on the fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30 of the following year. The fiscal year 2025 budget will cover July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. Residents can watch a presentation online to learn how the County decides what to prioritize in its budget and how the county budget impacts property taxes.

The budget includes salaries for staff, department operations, capital projects like building renovations and improvements, material costs like asphalt for the road department and more.

We invite you to read "The Budget and Your Taxes" to see how the budget process affects what you pay in property taxes, ask us any questions you may have, and follow this project page to stay up on future engagement opportunities around the budget.

The Missoula County commissioners voted to approve the FY 25 budget at their Sept. 5 public meeting. Click here to see an interactive breakdown of department funding, expenses, revenue and more. View the final budget presentation and other budget documents under the Documents section to the right.

Expected revenue from property taxes to fund the budget is $73.6 million, a 4.2% increase over last year. This $3 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 employees accounts for most of the base budget increase.

Tax impacts

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 an additional $10.15 a year in County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or about 85 cents a month.

For properties outside Missoula city limits, residents will pay an additional $12.87 in County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or $1.07 a month. You can find the assessed value (also called market value) of your home by visiting itax.missoulacounty.us and look under the “2023 Value” box.

These residents will pay different amounts because property owners are taxed differently depending on where their property is located. All Missoula County property owners, including those who live within the limits of the City of Missoula, pay countywide taxes. In addition to the countywide taxes, property owners outside Missoula city limits pay county-only taxes (rather than city taxes).

Residents can use $100,000 as a point of reference to easily calculate the estimated taxes they’ll pay to the County. For example, if a resident has a home outside city limits valued at $520,000, they would multiply $12.87 times 5.2 to arrive at the estimate of $66.92 in County taxes.

Budget requests

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 future property tax bills. A handful of new requests to fund ongoing improvements, including new staff, were also approved.

Budget requests requiring new property tax revenue are listed below, and staff presented them to the commissioners at administrative public meetings in July and early August. Recordings of those presentations are available on the County's YouTube channel. The Aug. 1 presentation on the preliminary budget also included an overview of outstanding requests.

Budget overview

Each year, the Missoula County commissioners and county staff work together to create an annual budget for county services and operations. The budget is created on the fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30 of the following year. The fiscal year 2025 budget will cover July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. Residents can watch a presentation online to learn how the County decides what to prioritize in its budget and how the county budget impacts property taxes.

The budget includes salaries for staff, department operations, capital projects like building renovations and improvements, material costs like asphalt for the road department and more.

We invite you to read "The Budget and Your Taxes" to see how the budget process affects what you pay in property taxes, ask us any questions you may have, and follow this project page to stay up on future engagement opportunities around the budget.

 

  • Staff enhancements to the Missoula Foster Child Health Program

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    Let us know your thoughts on funding staff enhancements to the Missoula Foster Child Health Program.

    This request would fund a salary increase for the public health nurse who oversees the Missoula Foster Child Health Program, plus office supplies for this program. This is a home visiting program that serves Missoula County foster children who are referred by the Montana Child and Family Services Division.

    The program, administered through Missoula Public Health, ensures basic medical needs of children entering foster placement are being met and those caring for them understand those needs. Many foster children have chronic physical and behavior conditions often preceded by maltreatment. These children face significant healthcare barriers, such as lack of medical and dental care, incomplete or missing medical histories, multiple conditions requiring specialized care providers and disjointed or uncoordinated treatment.

    Department: Health Department

    Cost: $10,473

    Type: Ongoing

    Funding source(s): Property taxes

    Commissioners are scheduled to discuss this item at their administrative public meeting at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 25, though this is subject to change. Join the meeting in Room 206 of the County Administration Building, 199 W. Pine Street. You can also join the meeting virtually via Microsoft Teams. Visit http://missoula.co/bccmeetings to find the agenda and link to join.

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  • Upgrading development software

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    Let us know your thoughts on the request to upgrade the County's development software.

    This funding request would purchase new licenses for development software. Adding new Figma and Resharper licenses would support larger projects like Odyssey (the County’s in-house permitting software) and the new County website.

    Department: Information Technology

    Cost: $2,216

    Type: Ongoing

    Funding source(s): Property taxes

    Commissioners are scheduled to discuss this item at their administrative public meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 30, though this is subject to change. Join the meeting in Room 206 of the County Administration Building, 199 W. Pine Street. You can also join the meeting virtually via Microsoft Teams. Visit http://missoula.co/bccmeetings to find the agenda and link to join.

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  • Wellness app for first responders

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    Let us know your thoughts on this request for a wellness app for first responders.

    This request would fund the purchase of a new app dedicated to addressing the mental health and wellbeing of first responders like 9-1-1 dispatchers, sheriff’s deputies and detention officers. First responders face significant exposure to secondary trauma during their careers, and there is a growing concern nationwide for the mental health of these public servants. While Missoula County has health and wellness programs for its employees, it is important to look at tools focused on the specific needs of first responders. This ongoing funding will use the EAP funds dedicated to each county employee to access resources and tools that specifically address the needs of first responders to ensure the health and well-being of these individuals.

    Department: Human Resources

    Cost: $35,000

    Type: Ongoing

    Funding source(s): Property taxes

    Commissioners are scheduled to discuss this item at their administrative public meeting at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug.1, though this is subject to change. Join the meeting in Room 206 of the County Administration Building, 199 W. Pine Street. You can also join the meeting virtually via Microsoft Teams. Visit http://missoula.co/bccmeetings to find the agenda and link to join.

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  • Missoula County hosts Budget 101 presentations

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    Missoula County hosted two Budget 101 presentations on the fiscal year 2025 budget. The first one was at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 10, at the Seeley Lake Community Council meeting at the Historic Barn, 2920 Highway 83 in Seeley Lake. The second one was at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 20, in the Sophie Moiese Room of the Missoula County Courthouse annex, 200 W. Broadway in Missoula. All residents are invited to attend both or one of these meetings.


    Click the "Presentation Documents" link on the right-hand side to see .pdf versions of what was presented at these meetings. The June 20 meeting recording is available on the Missoula County YouTube page.

  • Understanding Your County Property Taxes

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    Below are definitions of common words you'll hear when staff talk about calculating your property taxes. Read a full explanation of what property taxes are comprised of and how they're determined at http://missoula.co/taxes.

    • Assessed value is estimated by the Montana Department of Revenue. Every two years, the Montana Department of Revenue completes an appraisal of all properties in Montana’s 56 counties. This appraisal sets what the state uses as the market value of your home or property for the calculation of the taxable value.
    • Taxable value is based on laws the Montana Legislature passes. The Montana Department of Revenue calculates each property’s taxable value based on exemptions and limitations in laws enacted by the Montana Legislature. The taxable value for your property is listed on your appraisal notice from the Montana Department of Revenue. All residential homes are taxed at 1.35% of the property’s assessed value.
    • County mill rate is set by Missoula County voters and the county commissioners. Missoula County voters have approved spending measures for County services such as weed management, search and rescue teams and parks and trails. All these items are reflected in the number of mills the County will levy. After more than 100 hours of presentations and deliberations, Missoula County commissioners finalize the county budget and the mills required to support other necessary county services.

  • Countywide vs. County-Only Taxes

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    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/(External link) There, you can enter your info (name and address are sufficient) and it will pull up the tax info for your property.

  • Property Reappraisals Explained

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    • The state Department of Revenue (DOR), not Missoula County or the City, calculates residential property appraisals every two years and sends out notices to property owners across the state. Local governments are not involved in this process.

    • 2023 was a reappraisal year, which means 2024 is not, and 2025 will be another reappraisal year. Click here to see an example of an appraisal notice from 2023. You will not be receiving one of these this year.

    • This process occurs every two years. For those who have lived here for a long time, that may seem frequent. That’s because it is – until 2015, DOR appraised property every six years.

      • However, this left homeowners vulnerable to market busts, like the 2008 recession. In the early 2010s, Montana homeowners were paying high taxes on houses whose values had dropped significantly.

      • So, the Legislature approved a new two-year reappraisal cycle to protect taxpayers from market volatility. But this pendulum swings the other way with a market boom, like we have seen since mid-2020.

    • The County and City have control over how many mills we levy, with limitations (sometimes referred to as the mill cap). When overall property values in an area increase, so does the value of a mill, which is the unit of measurement local governments use to levy taxes. When a mill is worth more, it means a local government can levy fewer of them to bring in the same amount of revenue.

    • The estimated taxes you see on the DOR notice are based on the number of mills levied last year. Because appraisal values will be much higher this year due to the real estate market and other factors, mill values will also be higher. This means Missoula County and City may be able to levy fewer mills, so the increase to the County and City portion of your taxes will be less than the estimated amount on your DOR notice. See below for a simplified explanation:

    • Missoula County Public Schools operate under a different system that does not use mills; they instead levy to a specific dollar amount. Property values do not affect how much a school district can levy. Additionally, MCPS is a local agency separate from the City and County.

  • Your Property Tax Break Down

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    While Missoula County collects taxes for all agencies and jurisdictions in the county, we do not keep all of them. Learn more about the taxes you pay to the County, City, schools and other agencies by viewing a pie chart breakdown for your property at itax.missoulacounty.us(External link).

    Below is a breakdown of property taxes and where they go, based on a real tax bill from a house in Lolo in 2022-2023: