Missoula mayor lays out FY2026 executive budget; council sets public hearings for Aug. 4 and Aug. 11

Mayor Andrea Davis presented the city’s FY2026 executive budget at the July 21 Missoula City Council meeting and the council voted unanimously to set public hearings on the budget for Aug. 4 and Aug. 11.

The mayor said the administration has reduced the city’s structural deficit, improved cash reserves and focused on non‑property‑tax funding strategies. "We are projecting to spend $2,400,000 less for fiscal 2025 than originally budgeted," Davis said, and said projected cash reserves would end the fiscal year about $1 million higher than anticipated.

Davis outlined a number of cost‑saving measures included in the executive budget: increasing the city insurance deductible (projected savings $75,000), consolidating software and renegotiating IT contracts (about $100,000), short‑term rental registration revenue (projected $200,000) and an increase in health department licensing fees (statutory change projected to raise about $120,000 annually). The presentation also recorded the difficult decision to close the temporary emergency shelter on Johnson Street, which the mayor said will reduce annual costs by roughly $1.8 million.

The mayor emphasized approaches that rely less on new property tax revenue: two street maintenance positions will be paid from state gas-tax receipts rather than a road district assessment; other housing‑focused positions will be funded by grants; and the city is using targeted remittances from the Missoula Redevelopment Agency to pay eligible infrastructure…