Helena finance director outlines 2025/26 city assessments, proposes modest street-assessment increase

Director Sheila Danielson presented the city’s annual assessment overview and told the commission most assessments for tax year 2025 (fiscal year 2026) will have no increases, though the street maintenance assessment includes a proposed roughly 5% increase.

Danielson said the residential solid-waste assessment remains $218.10 per year and covers weekly collection, curbside recycling subsidies and debt service for solid-waste equipment. She said the city’s stormwater assessment uses impervious area to set fees (a base fee of $46.16 for residential parcels up to 2,222 square feet), and the landfill monitoring assessment — recreated by a recent resolution — is intended to fund groundwater monitoring and cap…