Budget week hit both floors of local government at once. Mayor Andrea Davis rolled out a lean city budget with a 3.8% property tax increase, county commissioners took public comment on their own preliminary FY2027 numbers, and in between, the city and county sat down together to adopt Montana's first green power tariff with NorthWestern Energy. Add a renter survey that puts hard numbers behind Missoula's tenant protection debate, and it was a week where most of the region's big questions, taxes, energy, and housing, showed up on the same calendar.
The week at a glance
- Mayor Andrea Davis proposed a FY2027 Missoula city budget with a 3.8% property tax increase, about $72 per year on a $500,000 home. One new position, no new programs. Adoption expected by August 17.
- The City Council and County Commissioners unanimously adopted Montana's first green power tariff with NorthWestern Energy, capped at 50 megawatts, in a joint session July 27.
- Missoula County held its preliminary FY2027 budget hearing July 30. So far: $1.2M of $6.9M in capital requests funded; a $5M jail water pipe replacement denied. Final vote September 3.
- A first-of-its-kind survey found 53% of Missoula renters are cost-burdened; a city tenant protection working group has launched.
- The council preliminarily approved a $2.3M land purchase for Missoula's sixth fire station at S. Third St. W. and S. Curtis St.
Missoula City Council
Mayor proposes FY2027 budget: 3.8% tax increase, one new position, no new programs
Mayor Andrea Davis presented her preliminary FY2027 budget to the Missoula City Council on Wednesday, July 29. The headline: a 3.8% property tax increase, roughly tracking inflation, that would generate about $2.8 million in new city revenue. For the owner of a $500,000 home, that works out to roughly $72 a year, about $6 a month. The budget is a proposal for now; the council takes it up for adoption next month.
This is a hold-the-line budget. More than 80% of the new revenue goes to wages, with police and fire the largest share. FY26 closed with a $1.4 million police budget deficit driven by union contract costs. The city adds exactly one new position, a utility engineer paid from utility fees rather than taxes, and no new programs. Senior leadership and all elected officials take a pay freeze. A one-time $2.5 million remittance from the Missoula Redevelopment Agency helps balance the books, and $750,000 goes to cash reserves, still below the city's target. The structural problem does not go away: ongoing expenses exceed ongoing revenues by an estimated $3.4 million.
Named priorities include the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the Midtown Commons housing project, Unified Development Code implementation, remediation of the John Engen Local Government Building, a new fire station, and water, stormwater, and sidewalk work.
Council member Stacey Anderson summed up the room: "Given the leanness of this budget, there's not a lot of ability to move money around."
What's next: Certified taxable values arrive from the state Department of Revenue August 3 and could shift the numbers. The public budget hearing opens August 10, with possible adoption August 17. State law requires adoption by the end of August.
Council preliminarily approves $2.3M land buy for sixth fire station
Also Wednesday, the council gave preliminary approval, with a final vote still ahead, to a $2.3 million purchase of two acres at South Third Street West and South Curtis Street from CJB Properties for the city's sixth fire station. The money comes from the roughly $5.5 million available under the 34-mill fire levy voters passed in June 2024. The station is projected to cut the share of city addresses outside the four-minute response zone from 46% to 29%. Construction is penciled in for mid-2028, with the building itself estimated at $12.4 to $13.7 million in 2028 dollars.
Renter survey puts numbers behind the tenant protection debate
On Wednesday, the council heard results from a first-of-its-kind survey of Missoula renters, presented by Jana Richter of Front Step Community Land Trust and Brenna Gradus, a Front Step board member and co-founder of the Missoula Tenants Union. The findings: 53% of Missoula renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of income on rent; 30% have been forced to move by rising costs; and two-thirds say a forced 30-day move would leave them with a housing gap or debt. Median rent has climbed from $800 in 2017 to more than $1,300 in 2024, per Missoula Organization of Realtors data.
The presenters pointed to organizing wins including collectively bargained leases and a 3% annual rent cap at one mobile home park, and announced a tenant protection working group newly launched in partnership with the city. Common Good Missoula was not named in this week's coverage, but tenant protections and housing reform are central to the coalition's ongoing campaigns, and this working group is a thread worth watching for readers who follow that organizing.
City and County joint session
Green Power Program adopted unanimously: Montana's first green tariff
In a joint meeting Monday, July 27, the Missoula City Council and Board of County Commissioners both voted unanimously to adopt the Lead Community Agreement with NorthWestern Energy, establishing Montana's first "green tariff," a voluntary, opt-in utility rate that lets NorthWestern customers subscribe to power from a new Montana-built renewable resource. Bozeman's city commission approved the same agreement the week before.
The numbers: the resource is capped at 50 megawatts, roughly enough for 20,000 homes. NorthWestern pays the upfront costs and owns and operates the resource. The program is designed to be self-contained, with no cost shift onto non-subscribers. NorthWestern must file with the Montana Public Service Commission by September 15, 2026, and if the PSC approves, a 180-day subscriber recruitment window follows. City staff estimate the program would move the Missoula urban area about 10% closer to its goal of 100% clean electricity by 2030; the community currently sits just under 60%. One commenter, Brandi Antanisoff, spoke in opposition.
Missoula County Commissioners
FY2027 preliminary budget hearing: what's funded, what's not
Commissioners held their public hearing on the preliminary FY2027 budget Thursday evening, July 30, at the Missoula County Courthouse. All decisions so far are preliminary; the binding vote comes September 3. The county's public budget tracker shows where things stand. Of $1.4 million in ongoing department requests, $867,400 is preliminarily approved, funded through property taxes. One-time requests: $380,470 approved of $460,670 asked. Capital projects took the biggest haircut: $1.2 million approved of $6.9 million requested.
Notable calls so far: a $5 million detention facility water pipe replacement was denied, as was $98,500 to make a jail re-entry navigation specialist a permanently funded position. The Temporary Safe Outdoor Space got $50,000 of a $200,000 bathroom remodel request. Elections got a $408,000 base budget increase, down from the office's $750,000 ask. Smaller approvals include $70,000 to rebuild the courthouse clocktower, $50,000 for a Wye Water System preliminary engineering report, and $208,000 for two new technology positions.
For context, last year's county budget carried an 8% property tax increase. This year's final number will depend partly on the certified taxable values arriving August 3.
Bridge work, big and small
Public Works Director Jason Mitchell told commissioners Tuesday, July 28, that the county landed a federal BUILD grant of roughly $3.1 million, the only one awarded in Montana this year, covering most of the $3.5 million replacement of the 50-year-old, load-restricted Glacier Creek Bridge west of Condon in the Swan Valley. The county owes a 10% match and will seek a state grant next spring; construction is targeted for 2028 to 2029. Separately, commissioners approved a $62,350 contract with Dan R. Dalton Inc. to repair the closed Sunset Hill Road Bridge in Greenough, with reimbursement from the Montana Department of Transportation and reopening expected later this summer. The county maintains 310 bridges and culverts.
Around the county
Elder 1 fire. A lightning-caused fire that started Friday, July 24, about seven miles southwest of Frenchtown in the Ninemile Ranger District had grown past 900 acres by Thursday, with area, road, and trail closures in place and a fire weather watch for the weekend calling for gusts to 45 mph.
Hoot-owl on the rivers. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks expanded afternoon fishing closures on western Montana rivers this week as water temperatures climbed.
Western Montana Fair. Opens this weekend at the county fairgrounds with its first extended double-weekend run, through August 8 (closed August 3). Admission is free.
Data center moratorium follow-up. The county's interim zoning pausing new data centers, adopted unanimously July 9, requires the county to initiate a verifying study within 30 working days, a clock that lands in mid-to-late August. We'll be watching for that filing.
Quiet bodies. No notable action surfaced this week from the MCPS school board, Missoula Redevelopment Agency (beyond the $2.5 million remittance in the mayor's budget), airport authority, planning board, or the Frenchtown and Lolo districts. County community councils' All Community Town Hall is on summer hiatus through August.
Next meetings
- Missoula City Council: Monday, Aug. 3, 6 p.m., 140 W. Pine St. (committees Wednesday, Aug. 5). FY27 budget hearing opens Aug. 10; possible adoption Aug. 17.
- Missoula County Commissioners: administrative meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4, 10 a.m., 199 W. Pine St.; public meeting Thursday, Aug. 6, 2 p.m., Sophie Moiese Room. Final FY27 budget hearing and vote Thursday, Sept. 3, 6 p.m.
