MONTANA NEWS ROUNDUP: Cuts Hit 406’s Biggest Rec Area

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers becomes the latest agency to announce some curtailed operations this summer because of federal budget cuts, impacting recreation areas around Fort Peck Reservoir.

The Omaha District, which includes Montana, says staffing shortages will mean less maintenance, repairs, litter pickup, and staff response times. Restrooms and trash will only be collected three days per week.

Be careful: Safety patrols will be reduced, especially on "weekends and holidays."

Fort Peck Camping Will Still Be Available

The popular Downstream and West End campgrounds will open this week with help from volunteer hosts, and primitive camping around the lake will be available. However, the Fort Peck Interpretive Center will only open on Saturdays this summer, as well as for powerhouse tours. The agency is asking for the public's help and patience. ⛺️

Montana Tax Reform "Almost" There

Montana lawmakers are making progress working out two property tax bills. One point in HB 231 aims to trim taxes for owners of multi-family units and cut the number of tax categories.

Representative Mark Thane of Missoula says that would keep higher taxes from driving up rents.

"That's simply to try and provide some relief for those people that rent." -Rep Mark Thane, Missoula

"And in fact, by the taxes on those properties,s hopefully there would not be a need for a corresponding increase in rents," Thane said during the Conference Committee discussions yesterday.

READ MORE: Why is it So Hard to Vut Montana Property Taxes?

Peter Christian asks why the process has been so complicated: 

HB 231 is up for third reading in the Senate and 2nd reading in the House today, linked now to other tax reform bill, SB 542. Both contain Governor Gianforte's idea of the "homestead" tax provision, shifting some of the load to out-of-state property owners.

A Missoula Marathon change for runners who aren't "morning people"

If you're a sleepy head and want to run in Montana's premier marathon event, there's some good news this year.

While the full Missoula Marathon will start as usual at 6 a.m. on June 29th, Race Director Trisha Drobeck says the decision was made to start the half-marathon an hour later at 7 a.m. this year.

This year also brings the return of the "Workplace Wellness Challenge", encouraging groups to get together with their co-workers for the 5k on Saturday.

There were 19 workplace teams last year. The largest being the University of Montana, with Drobeck hoping for 30 teams this summer.

Montana Wayback Wednesday

🏃‍♀️ 🏃 Last year, the 1500 runners who competed on the 26.2-mile Missoula Marathon course ran a combined 39,300 miles. Ironically, that's also the same distance covered by the approximately 3,000 half-marathon runners (if they completed the course).

That's more than 3x around the world in one morning!