Kalispell manager schedules Central Garage work session, flags property-tax shifts and urges voters to check ballots

KALISPELL, Mont. — Interim City Manager Mister Nygren told the City Council Nov. 3 that Susie Turner will act as manager at next Monday's meeting, which will include a work session on the Central Garage and an executive session for the city manager search.

"So Susie will continue to go over that," Nygren said, referring to prior work on budgeting and options for the Central Garage project. He said budget money had been allocated during earlier discussions and the upcoming work session will seek further direction from the council. Nygren also said the city will try to provide Zoom access for council members who cannot attend the executive session upstairs because the city manager search is an important aspect of council work.

Nygren raised a broader point about property-tax assessments: "Residential property taxes have gone down and that had to be made up somewhere, and it's being made up by commercial businesses," he said, attributing the shift to state law changes rather than local action by the city. He emphasized the complexity of assessment changes and said the city had not enacted measures that caused the increases in commercial taxable values.

Councilor Hunter urged residents to vote in the next day's election and noted a procedural issue some voters are encountering: "There are ballots being rejected because of this new rule that, folks are not including the birth year on the back of the envelope," Hunter said. Hunter advised voters to sign the back of the envelope and include their birth year, and to drop ballots off in person so they are counted.

Councilor Dowd also encouraged residents to contact state representatives about property-tax concerns and reiterated that the city did not take action to raise property taxes. Several council members offered general congratulations to area candidates and encouraged voter participation.

No formal council action was taken on the Central Garage at the meeting; next steps are the scheduled work session and subsequent executive session for the manager search.