Fiscal Year 2024 Budget

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The Missoula City Council adopted the FY24 budget on August 21, 2023.  You can view the Mayor's final budget presentation and learn more about property taxes on our main website.

Budget in Brief

 

Budget Kickoff

Mayor Jordan Hess presented his fiscal year 2024 (FY24) executive budget to City Council on June 28, stating his priorities in his budget letter. The budget focuses on programs and projects that will move the needle on housing, climate, and equity. This is the first step in the City's budgeting process, which will continue throughout the summer and conclude with City Council adoption of the budget on August 21. Please use the tools on this page to provide feedback or ask questions about the process. You can also participate in in all City meetings either online or in person.

Understanding the Budget & Getting Involved

The City's charter requires that the mayor presents a budget to City Council. The City Council can adopt amendments to the budget, then adopts the budget and levies the necessary taxes and fees.

This project on Engage Missoula will have high-level overviews of the budget and its process. More importantly, the tools on this page provide an interactive space for residents to bring questions for staff or share comments with elected officials, as a supplement to our public meetings.

Detailed budget documents will appear on our main City website. Each week, that site will be updated with the content that will be discussed in that week's committee meetings. Residents who want to dive deep into the details of the City's budget will find that information on our main site, with more added throughout the summer.

Here are a few documents to help residents navigate the budget process.

  • Budget guide - a guide to some of the terms we use in our budget process and a key to reading budget documents.
  • Baseline changes - a list of existing department costs that are changing. This is where increases for existing services, such as electricity or software costs, will appear.
  • Budget analysis - a summary of the City's general fund, road district, and park district showing baseline increases and the cost of new requests funded in Mayor Hess's budget. As City Council adds or removes items from the budget later in the summer, that column will be updated.

Budget in Brief

 

Budget Kickoff

Mayor Jordan Hess presented his fiscal year 2024 (FY24) executive budget to City Council on June 28, stating his priorities in his budget letter. The budget focuses on programs and projects that will move the needle on housing, climate, and equity. This is the first step in the City's budgeting process, which will continue throughout the summer and conclude with City Council adoption of the budget on August 21. Please use the tools on this page to provide feedback or ask questions about the process. You can also participate in in all City meetings either online or in person.

Understanding the Budget & Getting Involved

The City's charter requires that the mayor presents a budget to City Council. The City Council can adopt amendments to the budget, then adopts the budget and levies the necessary taxes and fees.

This project on Engage Missoula will have high-level overviews of the budget and its process. More importantly, the tools on this page provide an interactive space for residents to bring questions for staff or share comments with elected officials, as a supplement to our public meetings.

Detailed budget documents will appear on our main City website. Each week, that site will be updated with the content that will be discussed in that week's committee meetings. Residents who want to dive deep into the details of the City's budget will find that information on our main site, with more added throughout the summer.

Here are a few documents to help residents navigate the budget process.

  • Budget guide - a guide to some of the terms we use in our budget process and a key to reading budget documents.
  • Baseline changes - a list of existing department costs that are changing. This is where increases for existing services, such as electricity or software costs, will appear.
  • Budget analysis - a summary of the City's general fund, road district, and park district showing baseline increases and the cost of new requests funded in Mayor Hess's budget. As City Council adds or removes items from the budget later in the summer, that column will be updated.

The Missoula City Council adopted the FY24 budget on August 21, 2023.  You can view the Mayor's final budget presentation and learn more about property taxes on our main website.

  • Final Budget Adopted

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    The Missoula City Council adopted the FY24 budget at the August 21, 2023 meeting. View Mayor Hess's final budget presentation here. Residential properties will pay City taxes of about $377 per $100,000 of assessed value. Assessed value is not the same as market value. Property owners can find their assessed value on the Department of Revenue website. Learn more about property taxes on our main website.

  • Mayor Hess Presents Final Executive Budget & Proposed Taxes

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    The Montana Department of Revenue sent their certified taxable values to the City of Missoula on Monday, August 7. This allowed the City to start working with real revenue numbers instead of projections and estimates. Mayor Jordan Hess finalized the requests that would be included in his executive budget. He presented these changes, budget innovations and challenges, and the mill rates for Fiscal Year 2024 at the Budget and Finance Committee on August 9. Now, City Council will discuss what they would like to add or remove from the budget until final budget adoption on August 21.

    City taxes are affected by several factors. The part that is under control of the City Council is the number of mills assessed. In Mayor Hess's proposed budget, that number is 279.15, but it may change during Council discussion. The number includes the City's general fund, road district, and park district. At the proposed level, a homeowner would pay City taxes of $376.85 per year for every $100,000 of assessed value of the home. The assessed value on your tax bill is usually lower than the price your home would sell for if you put it on the market today. You can look up your home's assessed value at the Montana Department of Revenue's website. You can also learn more about property assessments in previous article below.

    Join us at the Budget and Finance committee meeting on August 16 for an in-depth look at property tax trends. You can participate live in person or remotely, or stream the meeting later at your convenience.

  • Attend a Public Meeting about Property Assessments

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    The Montana Department of Revenue is offering public meetings across the state to help property owners understand their appraisal notices. There is a meeting in Missoula at the Hilton Garden Inn on July 12 at 3:00 p.m. You can view all meeting options, including the four virtual meetings, on DOR's website.

    Property appraisals are conducted by the state, not by local government. Your appraisal does affect your property taxes. To learn more, read Property taxes explained - with pictures. Property owners have 30 days to protest their assessment if they believe it is too high. Don't wait until you get your tax bill in the fall - that is too late!

  • Mayor Hess Presents Executive Budget

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    Mayor Hess presented his executive budget to City Council on June 28. He laid out his priorities in his budget letter in detail. In summary, those priorities follow the four pillars of the City's strategic plan.

    Community Safety, Health and Well-being

    • Year-round emergency shelter. We’re partnering with Missoula County to fund the $1.7 million in operating costs, and our team is working on improvements to make sure the facility is ready for year-round use.
    • Funding in the Parks and Road Districts for support for staff and public safety with security in neighborhoods, garbage hauling, and hazard pay for employees.
    • Crisis Intervention Team program, based in the Police Department, funded at $313,000 to maintain its current level of service.
    • Mobile Support Team, based in the Fire Department, funded to maintain service at $1.3 million.
    • Attorney’s Office ongoing funding for a formerly grant-funded crime victim advocate position, and we’re adding a new coordinator with additional grant funds.

    Organizational Excellence and Resilience

    • 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase for non-union staff. Negotiations continue with our police and fire unions, where we know our wages are below market rates and need a boost.
    • Allocating ongoing funding to continue the work of our Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion program, previously funded with one-time funds.
    • Create efficiencies within Central Services with a new payroll system.
    • Design and remediation will begin in earnest on the former federal courthouse, which will become the new home for many City and County functions.
    • Engage a consultant to develop a comprehensive constituent services, engagement, and communications plan for Council and the administration.

    Economic Health

    • Nearly $5 million into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund this year through the sale of the former Sleepy Inn site on West Broadway and the Riverfront Triangle in addition to general fund support.
    • Continue to work toward our goal of 100 percent clean electricity by 2030, which includes work on the Renewable Rate Option with the City of Bozeman and Missoula County, taking advantage of contracts and grants whenever possible.
    • $30,000 to the United Way’s Child Care Advantage program.
    • Proactive lobbying strategy for work between sessions of the Montana State Legislature to advocate for desperately needed reforms.
    • Working with the National League of Cities, the U.S. Department of Labor, and local partners to develop a pipeline for clean energy and infrastructure workforce development in Missoula, with an end goal of providing good jobs that pay well for disadvantaged members of our community.

    Community Design and Livability

    • $425,000 for the continuing Our Missoula growth policy and code reform project and maintains the staff on our innovative engagement process.
    • $415,000 for consultants and engagement our Parks, Recreation, Open Space, and Trails plan to create more urban standards for our parks as our city grows . T
    • Evaluate our Urban Forestry program, including an innovative tree inventory.
    • Complete the first phase of the Mullan BUILD Grant area totaling $2.9 million this fiscal year.
    • Continue our sidewalk and mobility programs with $5.7 million invested in sidewalks and greenways.
    • Make improvements for all modes of transportation on South Avenue in partnership with Missoula County, leveraging $9 million in federal funding with $2 million in city funds.
    • Missoula Redevelopment Agency will invest $7.7 million in public infrastructure for such things as sidewalks and water infrastructure, specifically $3.5 million for the Bitterroot Trail Bridge project in URD II and $2.4 million for the Bitterroot Trail lighting project in URD III.
    • Missoula Water will invest $11.5 million in infrastructure as we continue to keep the promises we made in the water utility acquisition. We’ve turned the corner on leakage, reducing our environmental impact, and we’ll continue that work.
    • Invest $8.2 million in our wastewater utility’s collection and treatment systems.
    • Repair and reopen the Northside Pedestrian Bridge in FY24 for an additional $2.7 million.
    • $1.5 million in the Clark Fork River through an access project funded by a federal grant from the Economic Development Administration as well as our partners at the Missoula Downtown Foundation.
    • Providing a match for a federal Transportation Alternatives grant to help reduce operations costs with deferred repairs to sidewalks, wells, irrigation systems, fences and pathways.
    • Focus our grant-writing efforts on electrification, sustainability, and resilience, with an overall goal of reducing our climate impact.


  • Mayor Hess Presents Strategic Plan

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    Mayor Jordan Hess and city staff presented the City's Strategic Plan for 2024 to 2026 at the Budget and Finance Committee on June 7. The plan lays out the City's priorities and decision lenses and lays the groundwork for policy and budget decisions for fiscal year 2024 and beyond. Fiscal year 2024, which begins in July 2023, is the first year of the new plan. The goals in the plan help shape our budget, making this a crucial planning document as we head into our budget season.