BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Attempt to Sell a Product or Service, Appeal to Authority, and Negativity Bias, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 6.9% saturation with 136 hits. Analysis detected 910 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,960 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 15.2% and a BS Rank of 5% (24,065 of 25,181 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.60% of the article peer group.
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“Missoula This Week” is reported and written By Katie Fairbanks.
Send your Missoula news and tips to kfairbanks@montanafreepress.org .
ity: Increase needed to cover higher wages, costs
Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis this week proposed a 2027 budget that increases taxes by 3.8% over last year, largely to cover wages and other cost increases.
The proposed increase is slightly higher than last year’s 3.4% increase , but well below the prior year’s 17% jump , 11% of which was from the voter-approved fire levy.
“While I wish we had no property tax increase at all, I am committed to keeping these increases modest and predictable,” Davis said.
“This budget maintains the service level that our residents expect.”
The proposed increase may change depending on the certified taxable values the city receives from the state next week, Davis said.
The increase equals about $72 per year for a home with an assessed value of $500,000.
The effect on residents’ property tax bills will vary by property and 2025 legislative changes to tax rates, Davis said.
The city’s operating budget of $198 million, which includes the general fund, road and park districts, utilities and the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, is about the same as last year’s, according to the budget presentation.
Davis told the council that the budget includes modest changes to programs and services, as well as some cost savings.
Some examples of savings include leaving open positions unfilled, reducing the fire department’s overtime budget, reducing software licensing costs and delaying certain vehicle purchases, Dale Bickell, the city’s chief administrative officer, told Montana Free Press.
The budget includes $9.2 million of new requests, according to city budget documents .
Of those funded, $6.9 million is paid for with non-tax sources.
That includes the $121,500 in salary and benefits for the budget’s only new full-time employee, a utility engineer, funded by utility fees.
New requests funded by taxes include upgrades to the Missoula Municipal Court’s audio and video system and a second round of a community survey to measure the city’s progress in improving services, Davis said.
The budget includes wage increases required by union contracts, as well as a 3% cost-of-living increase for non-union employees, Davis said.
The budget does not include wage increases for senior leadership positions or elected officials, she said.
The 3.8% tax increase would generate about $2.8 million, 83% of which would go toward wages, Davis said.
About 11%, or $310,960, would go toward increases to the city’s utilities and other bills, and the remainder would help pay for new requests.
Davis said the budget also includes fee increases recommended by city staff earlier this month .
At the proposed rates, fees would generate an estimated $834,150 for fiscal year 2027, Davis said.
The budget also includes a $2.5 million tax remittance from the Missoula Redevelopment Agency.
If approved, the agency, which receives tax increment financing from Missoula’s urban renewal districts, will return about $8.5 million in proportionate amounts to the city and other taxing districts.
Davis said while the administration wants to significantly reduce remittances, they are a tool for local communities to help maintain public services.
The city lost ground on its goal of decreasing the gap between its expenditures and revenues, in part because of underestimating the cost of increased wages for police officers as part of negotiations that wrapped up last summer, said Bickell, the city’s chief administrative officer.
The city ended fiscal year 2026 with a $1.4 million deficit in the police department budget.
That contributed to the tightness of the 2027 budget and the estimated general fund deficit of $3.4 million, Bickell said.
“Even though we had a step back in this, this is still a lower structural deficit than we had two years ago or three years ago,” he said.
“While we took a step back in order to get these contracts completed, … we’ll continue to use our tools and efforts to remedy that over the course of the next budgets.”
In the next two weeks, the city council will propose and discuss amendments to the budget.
Those might be limited because of the lean budget, several council members said.
“If you have an amendment that doesn’t have a spending offset, there’s not a lot to talk about because there just isn’t additional revenue to do that,” Council Member Mike Nugent said.
The council will open the budget hearing during its meeting at 6 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 10, and could vote on Aug.
17.
City Council OKs $2.3 million land purchase for sixth fire station
The city’s plans for a sixth fire station moved forward this week when the Missoula City Council preliminarily approved the purchase of land in the western part of the city.
The council Wednesday authorized the mayor to execute the purchase agreement with CJB Properties for the two-acre property on the corner of South Third Street West and South Curtis Street.
Fire Chief Lonnie Rash said about $5.5 million from the 34-mill levy voters approved in June 2024 is available to cover the purchase.
A 2024 study analyzing response data identified South Third Street between Russell and Reserve streets as the ideal area for the new station.
Rash said the new station would reduce the percentage of addresses outside of the standard four-minute coverage zone from 46% to 29%.
“We are getting to more citizens more quickly; that is really the nexus of why we are putting the fire station at this location,” he said.
Courtesy of the city of Missoula
The city considered several properties in the area but landed on Third and Curtis because it best aligned with the study, had available infrastructure and the most achievable timeline, Rash said.
The purchase agreement includes an easement on the north side of the property to allow the seller access to Curtis Street and for overflow parking on Sundays for the adjacent church.
That also includes a cost-share and maintenance agreement for the easement area, Rash said.
The assessment and conceptual design for the new station, completed earlier this year, landed on a preferred concept of a single-story station of about 14,460 square feet.
While the project won’t exceed two acres, the department is looking to size down if possible to save on costs, Rash said.
The conceptual design includes four engine bays, eight dorm rooms and other administrative and operational areas.
A reduced design of about 12,440 square feet would include three bays and seven dorm rooms.
The designs removed space for the Mobile Support Team to cut costs, Rash said.
The city will search for a permanent location for the team, which responds to behavioral health-related calls, he said.
Rash said construction estimates based on 2028 dollars put the cost of the new station at $1,000 to $1,100 per square foot.
For the smaller design of about 12,440 square feet, the total would be about $12.4 million to $13.7 million.
The city would take out a loan for construction and use the levy revenue to pay that debt, Council Member Stacie Anderson said.
The council would have to approve the final design and cost of the station and bond.
Construction will likely begin in mid-2028 following design and engineering next year, Rash said.
Once the purchase is finalized, the department will talk to neighbors of the new station about design and its impacts on the community, he said.
Council Member Amber Sherrill said while the numbers are not “big and flashy,” improving response times by even one minute matters.
“These numbers are real, and they’re really important to our community,” she said.
“I know it’s been a long time coming and a very scientific approach to what we’re able to get and where we can serve our community the best.”
A wildfire burning in Missoula County about seven miles southwest of Frenchtown has grown to more than 900 acres since starting last Friday, according to a Thursday update from the Lolo National Forest.
Courtesy of Lolo National Forest
Lightning sparked the Elder 1 fire, which has spread through heavy timber in the Rock Creek area of the Ninemile Ranger District, according to the Lolo National Forest .
Hot, dry and windy conditions have contributed to the fire’s growth over the last week, the agency updates said.
Saturday will be the hottest, driest day of the week, and a fire weather watch has been issued for Saturday afternoon into Sunday, when a strong, dry cold front moves into the area, according to the National Weather Service.
That front could include winds of 10 to 25 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph.
The Forest Service has closed the area around the Elder 1 fire for public safety.
A map of the area, road and trail closure is available online .
A temporary flight restriction has also been implemented, meaning drones are not allowed in the area.
The amount of a federal grant Missoula County recently received to replace the Glacier Creek Bridge west of Condon.
The 50-year-old bridge has been partially closed since 2023 with a load restriction and does not meet modern design and safety standards, according to the county.
The replacement will help connect Swan Valley residents and visitors with vital services, including wildfire and emergency response, the county commissioners wrote in letters to the federal delegation, thanking them for supporting the project.
The bridge replacement was the only Montana project to receive a federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant this year.
The federal grant will pay for most of the project’s $3.5 million price tag, but the county is responsible for a 10% match.
Jason Mitchell, the county’s public works director, told the commissioners Tuesday that the county plans to apply for a state grant next spring to pay for the county’s portion of the project.
Mitchell said construction will ideally begin in summer 2028 but could get pushed to summer 2029.
Missoula County is responsible for maintaining 310 bridges and culverts on county-maintained roads, including those within the city.
The county has struggled to raise funds to pay for repairs and replacements needed for many aging bridges, including the Sunset Hill Road and Boy Scout bridges, which have been closed for several months.
Last week, the commissioners approved a $62,350 contract with Dan R.
Dalton Inc. to repair the Sunset Hill Road Bridge in Greenough, allowing the bridge to reopen later this summer.
The project cost will be reimbursed by the Montana Department of Transportation, Mitchell said.
The Western Montana Fair kicks off this weekend at the Missoula County Fairgrounds and will continue through Aug. 8 as part of the first extended double-weekend schedule.
The fair will be closed on Monday, Aug.
3.
The free-admission fair includes food, carnival rides, live music, arena events and livestock shows.
The carnival is open from noon to 10 p.m., and passes are available to purchase online or onsite.
Free live music begins at 7 p.m. every night.
Tickets are on sale for the Lords of Dirt motorcycle and motocross shows this Friday through Sunday, and for the Missoula Stampede rodeo events Aug. 4 through Aug.
8.
The full fair schedule and ticket information are available online.
Those interested in earning carnival passes, fair food bucks or Lords of Dirt or rodeo tickets can sign up to volunteer with Home ReSource’s “green team,” which helps fair attendees compost and recycle waste.
Last year , the nonprofit helped divert more than 70,000 pounds of waste from the landfill and is aiming for 100,000 this year.
The post City, county advance green energy proposal appeared first on Montana Free Press .
Speakers
9speakers46%attributed speech1,054writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageHome ReSource
15 attributed words1.7% of attributed speech28% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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Analysis
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