Definitions

When a homeowner wants to ensure they have fire protection in place for their residence, they may request to annex their property into a fire district, such as the Missoula Rural Fire or Frenchtown Fire District.  The homeowner agrees to pay taxes to that fire district. Learn more on the Missoula Rural Fire District’s site and Frenchtown Rural Fire District’s site.

A request to create a new public road right-of-way. This petition comes with no fee. See "Road petitions procedure" to learn more.

A request to change, move or relocate a public road right-of-way easement. This petition comes with no fee. See "Road petitions procedure" to learn more.

A request to end the use of a public road right-of-way easement with no intention to reclaim or use it again. This is also sometimes called a “vacation.” The County may not abandon a county right-of-way used to access private land if the access benefits two or more landowners unless all the landowners agree to the abandonment. When granting consent, all affected property owners must be listed and sign (for example, if a husband and wife live in one house, both would have to sign). This petition comes with a $300 fee to be sent to the County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, which processes and verifies the petition. This fee is to carry out the necessary administration and public notice costs associated with the petition. See "Road petitions procedure" to learn more.

Montana property owners, per state law, can petition to create rural special improvement districts in specific areas to help pay for improvements, such as for roads, sewer or water systems, street lighting. RSIDs work by having those who live in a designated area pay into the RSID to fix the issues within their area. 

A type of easement that generally lines up a road. An easement is a portion of land that the County is legally allowed to access for specific purposes.

The process of bringing land under a certain jurisdiction, to then receive services from and be taxed by that jurisdiction. For example, a property can be annexed into a fire district to receive their fire protection services, and they would be taxed accordingly.