City staff updates Missoula council on FY26 budget; public hearing continued to Aug. 18

Missoula city staff presented updated information on the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget at the Aug. 11 City Council meeting, and the council left the FY26 public hearing open for additional amendments and final action on Aug. 18.

Dale Bickel, the city’s chief administrative officer, summarized changes since the previous hearing Aug. 4 and highlighted new taxable-value information from the state. Bickel said the mayor’s proposed budget emphasizes financial stability, investments in housing-focused operations and core services, and a cost-of-living approach to compensation. “This mayor’s budget brings a commitment to financial stability, responsible investment, and responsive public service,” Bickel said.

Key figures Bickel presented included a proposed general fund expense budget of about $88.1 million, a total tax-supported budget of roughly $121 million, and an all-funds operating budget near $200 million. The city’s general-fund reserve target is 7% of ongoing revenues (about $5.1 million); Bickel said the FY26 ending balance is projected at about $3.2 million, an increase from FY25 but short of the policy target.

Bickel described changes to the city’s revenue estimates after state assessment notices. He said assessment results and legislative changes reduced median taxable values, producing an estimated 3.5% overall property-tax revenue increase across city taxing districts (exclusive of newly taxable property). On the median home example Bickel showed, market value rose from about $399,000 in 2024 to about $507,000 in the new cycle, but legislative changes and exemptions produced a roughly 21.7% drop in taxable value for the median home; under the FY26 mill rate the median homeowner would see an estimated 14% decrease in the city portion of their tax bill. Bickel stressed that the city’s calculation covers only the city portion of property tax and does not include county or school taxes.

Bickel said the city’s new property-tax revenue estimate tied to this budget is roughly $3.8 million (down from a prior internal estimate of approximately $4.4 million), and he explained steps used to hold the overall taxpayer impact to the 3.5% target, including fund-balance management. He outlined how the new tax revenue is allocated: roughly 79% to wage increases for existing staff, 14.8% to contractual increases (utilities, rent, software) and roughly 5% to new requests.

Bickel also described budget changes and additions since Aug. 4: a $6,800 one-time appropriation for a police digital-forensics tool, two new street-maintenance positions funded by gas-tax sources instead of district property tax, continued investments in capital projects including the Scott and Phillips roundabout and South Avenue Safe Streets for All federal project preparations, design work for a new fire station and continued work on the animal services facility expansion and composting facility ARPA grants.

Council members asked procedural and detail-oriented questions. Councilor Bob Campbell asked about the change between the earlier $4.4 million estimate and the $3.8 million figure; Bickel said taxable values were lower than anticipated and staff used fund-balance tools to preserve the targeted tax increase. Councilor Daniel Carlino asked when fee increases (parks and recreation, development review) would be posted; staff said the material was being prepared and would be available before further committee deliberations.

Public comment during the meeting on the budget items (agenda items 5.1–5.6) produced no speakers in the chamber and no online commenters; councilors noted the public hearing remains open through Aug. 18, with budget-committee deliberations scheduled in a morning session Aug. 13 and an afternoon placeholder session.

The council did not vote on budget adoption at the Aug. 11 meeting; staff and councilors signaled more amendment work in committee and a planned final vote on Aug. 18.