Missoula mayor asks for 9.71% city property tax hike

Missoula’s mayor Jordan Hess officially presented the city’s budget request to the City Council this week, asking for a median property tax increase of 9.71% on city property owners. The hike will help pay for a total budget of all tax-supported services of $111 million. That total includes an increase in revenue for city services of $6.3 million over last year’s budget of about $105 million.

Hess said he and other city leaders made careful adjustments to the budget to keep the tax increase as low as possible while still providing the city services that residents demand and need. He believes that state lawmakers have put the burden of taxation on residential property owners, but he noted that the 9.71% increase is still less than the 37% median increase that the Montana Department of Revenue estimated Missoula County would see.

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“We have unfunded priorities,” Hess said. “Our tax structure makes it difficult to meet all our community’s goals. It’s not a trivial increase but it is a significantly lower increase than the notices that folks received this summer that were indicating they’d be up against. As I said

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