Bozeman commissioners adopt FY26 operating budget, set aside funds for shelters and planning; tenant-rights program left for later

Bozeman City Commission members on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution approving the fiscal year 2026 annual operating budget after a multi-hour presentation from city staff and public comment.

The budget vote followed a presentation by City Finance Director Melissa Bodnant and a discussion led by the City Manager on revenue uncertainty tied to state-certified property values. The commission approved staff recommendations to cash-fund the planned City Hall remodel, to reserve money toward replacing the city’s enterprise resource planning system (ERP), and to set aside $500,000 for emergency shelter operations and $50,000 for the Bozeman Creek planning effort. Commissioners and staff also left a separate tenants’ right-to-counsel program for later design and decision-making.

The adopted FY26 resolution formalizes an annual operating budget that updates the two-year biennial budget the commission previously adopted. City staff emphasized that several figures remain estimates until the Department of Revenue issues certified property valuations in August; staff used a 3% estimate on property-taxable values in its materials and recommended postponing some final allocations until the new certified values arrive.

Staff framed the FY24 audit results and year-end carryforward items as the immediate source of one-time funding. Bodnant told the commission that 22% of planned expenditures from FY24 were unspent on paper, but about 16 percentage points of that reflected legally required multi-year carryforwards — projects already encumbered or contracted and therefore reserved. Staff said approximately $43,000,000 in carryforwards remain in the FY25 budget, largely for public-works capital projects.

Key decisions…