Fee Increases Proposed For Some Missoula Permits and Services, Nothing But Normal

Fees have been a hot topic of discussion around Missoula city council meetings as far back as April and on Monday, they were finally the main focus.

Missoula city councilman Adam Hertz broke down exactly what type of debates have been going on during these meetings. The first issue, Hertz said, is more of a house keeping issue:

"There are a couple of issues in front of the city council with regard to fees," Hertz said. "One is just determining where fees should sit in city code, and if then in resolution or in ordinances in the past, this is just an attempt to streamline and put them all in resolution. I'm hoping that will provide some better customer service, less staff time, and just make things a little easier for everybody."

The second, Hertz said, is part of a larger discussion:

"That's the mayor's proposed 3 percent increase on fees across the board," Hertz said. "This will include fees like sewer hook up fees, business license fee, subdivision fee, different fees like that that you might run into when you're dealing with the city of Missoula."

Hertz said as far as looking back historically, three percent has been pretty average in regards to fee hikes for Missoula Mayor John Engen and is nothing short of normal.

NBC Montana said public hearings will be held for the next few weeks and a new city budget will most likely be adopted by the end of June.