MCPS Explains How Your School Tax Funds Will Be Spent in Missoula

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - All four of the Missoula County Public School tax levies passed on May 2, according to Communications Specialist Tyler Christensen, who spoke to KGVO News on Wednesday.

Christensen provided details on how the taxpayer-approved funds will be spent by the various school districts.

All Four of the Mill Levy Requests were Passed by Missoula Voters

“The four funding requests that we had on the May 2 ballot have all been approved by Missoula voters,” said Christensen. “There was a general fund levy requests for the elementary and high school district and building reserve letter requests for the elementary and high school districts. Under state law, the school districts are allowed an inflationary increase that I believe this year is 2.7 percent, but it does require a vote in order for that to be something that the school is going to have access to.”

Christensen provided more details.

“The general fund levies will help MCPS pay for normal operating expenses in both the elementary and high school districts,” she said. “Remember the elementary district includes preschool through eighth grade, so normal operating expenses such as our staff salaries, utilities, insurance, curriculum materials, and that sort of thing.”

Christensen detailed how much the levies will cost each property taxpayer.

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It Will Cost $2.58 per Year per $100,000 of Assessed Value

“It will come from local property taxes,” she said. “The cost per $100,000 of assessed property value, so the tax increase would be $2.58 per year for the elementary district and then an additional 69 cents per year for the high school district for the general fund. For the building reserve levy, that is a total amount of $3.5 million over five years for the elementary district, and then $4.9 million over seven years for the high school districts.”

With so many school levy requests being denied in other western Montana communities, Christensen expressed her gratitude to Missoula voters.

“We recognize that it's never easy to vote for an increase in taxes, especially during tough financial times like we are seeing currently,” she said. “Our district strives to continually demonstrate that we are good stewards of public funding and public resources, and we will continue to work hard to earn the public's vote of confidence in local public elections. Thank you to the Missoula voters for supporting our students, staff, and school communities. We're so very grateful for the support from voters and the Missoula community.”

Target Range School Passed its First Levy Since 2007

As KGVO reported, the Target Range school district hadn’t passed a mill levy request since 2007, however, the voters came through in 2023, passing the $375,000 request by a 58 to 42 percent vote.