Missoula County Asks for Three Percent Increase in Property Tax

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Missoula County Commissioners held a meeting last Thursday in the County Courthouse asking the public for their input on the proposed fiscal year 2025 county budget.

I spoke with Chris Lounsbury, Chief Administrative Officer for the county on Friday, who provided a ‘top of the trees’ look at the proposed budget for 2025.

Chris Lounsbury Explained What Happened at the First Budget Meeting

“Missoula County just completed our first of two hearings,” began Lounsbury. “Our preliminary budget hearing was this past Thursday. A couple of things for folks to know; one is right now what we're looking at is the expense side of the picture, only because we don't know what revenues will look like in fiscal year 25 until we get a little more information from the state that will come next week. That's called the certified taxable value. So that's where the state tells us what the total taxable value is in Missoula County, and that's how we determine the number of mills that we can levy and how that will impact folks property taxes.”

Lounsbury said every effort is being made to keep budget requests below the rate of inflation.

Officials say Every Attempt is Being Made to Stay Below the Rate of Inflation

“The big thing for folks to know here is that staff's been working really hard to make sure that any increase that we have is below the inflationary rate,” he said. “That's a goal that we set for ourselves each year. This year, we’re already below that rate. The rate right now of inflation is around 3.4 percent in the state of Montana, and we're well below that at this point, and we hope to stay well below that.”

Lounsbury said the county will have another meeting later this month once more complete numbers come in.

“On August 20, the County Commissioners will look at those one-time requests and make decisions,” he said. “Those one-time requests do not change how much property tax we will levy next year. Those are our one-time requests. Then on Thursday the 22nd they'll look at the ongoing requests, of which there are about seven. Those are the ones that would need that ongoing property tax support and could change the numbers that Missoula County is looking at in fiscal year 2025.”

READ MORE: There is a Property Tax Assistance Program in Montana

Lounsbury provided a website where the public can get more detailed budget information.

“Just go to Missoula County voice.com,” he said. “That's our engagement page for citizens. If they go to that web page, there's a tile there that says ‘fiscal year 2025 county budget’. If they click on that, they can actually look at the whole county's projected budget. My email address is on there and our chief financial officer’s email address is on there, in case folks have questions.”

In a press release, county officials provided the following information:

"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 $251 in total County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or about $21 a month. For properties outside Missoula city limits, residents will pay $314.96 in total County taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value, or $26.25 a month."