Missoula County presents FY26 parks requests: more scholarship support for City program and expanded maintenance FTE

Parks, Trails & Recreation staff asked the Missoula County Board of Commissioners to increase the county contribution to the City of Missoula’s Parks & Recreation scholarship program and to expand an existing 0.3 seasonal maintenance position into a full year‑round FTE as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget requests.

Staff said the City’s “Share the Fun” scholarship program reduces financial barriers to participate in recreation programs and that county residents increasingly use the program. Staff reported that in fiscal 2025 the scholarship program supported more than 150 individuals and that the city’s calculations show a fiscal‑year average of county resident participation that equates to approximately $10,500 in county‑attributable scholarship use. County staff said the county’s historic annual contribution has been $4,655 and that the city is requesting an increase of roughly $5,845 to better match county resident usage.

“How the scholarship program works: it’s an application process, and it’s based off of income threshold for the family,” a parks representative said. Staff said the city publicizes the scholarship through email lists, posters at city and county sites, and community partners. Staff also noted the scholarship program supports a range of services including week‑long summer camp registrations, swim lessons and aquatic passes and that outside sponsors and nonprofit partners also contribute.

The second request would expand a 0.3 seasonal parks maintenance FTE to a full 1.0 FTE. Staff said the county hired a maintenance and stewardship specialist, Taylor Harris, in 2022 and that one person has been unable to cover all routine and peak maintenance demands. The seasonal hire this year already produced efficiencies, staff said, and moving the position to year‑round would allow staff to do small capital improvements, reduce the need for some specialty contracted work and improve site readiness for rentals. Staff estimated the full position cost at about $69,000 with an incremental budget increase to the county of about $55,000.

“There’s a balance out there. We can decrease some specialty contracted services if this person is here full time,” a parks presenter said, citing small repairs and installations that are now difficult to contract out cost‑effectively.

Staff discussed the tradeoffs with contracted mowing (a category still likely to be contracted because it is routine) and emphasized the year‑round position would let in‑house crews tackle deferred maintenance tasks that are too small to attract contractors. Commissioners did not take a formal vote on the FY26 requests during the presentation; staff noted both items are being considered as part of the broader county budget process.

County staff said future program growth could include more collaboration with the city for programming at county sites such as Marshall Mountain, but no decision or funding appropriation was finalized during the meeting.