The cost of repairing and maintaining Missoula County’s roads and bridges far exceeds revenue, so an additional tax was introduced on the November ballot that could raise about $1.8 million annually for public infrastructure.
Missoula County Commissioners on Thursday approved the inclusion of a five percent levy in the Nov. 5 general election. The levy will fund construction, repairs and maintenance of public roads, bridges and trails.
“Roads, bridges, potholes, dust, these are the things that citizens complain about the most, and rightly so, and we are not even close to being able to do the maintenance that is required.” Commissioner Juanita Vero said during the meeting:
If the levy passes, the owner of a $300,000 home would pay an additional $20.25 annually, and the owner of a $600,000 home would pay $40.50. The levy would take effect in fiscal year 2026.
Two residents who made comments during the meeting suggested that the county should reduce its debt and other costs before moving forward with the levy. Several online comments on the levy information page opposed any new taxes.
Approximately $7.6 million from property taxes, state gasoline taxes and other state and federal sources funds work on the 452 miles of roads, 123 bridges and 346 culverts for which the county is responsible, Public Works Director Shane Stack said during Thursday’s meeting. The Public Works Department estimates it will need an additional $4.3 million per year to fully fund the county’s infrastructure needs.
Shortly after Stack joined the district five years ago, it became clear that infrastructure was underfunded, he told the Montana Free Press. Stack speculated that the backlog grew because elected officials have historically been reluctant to raise taxes.
“I don’t know what’s worse: having to close a bridge and tell people they have to walk home from now on, or that we have to raise taxes,” he said.
State law limits how much the county can raise property taxes, putting the Department of Planning under intense pressure amid rising costs, said Chris Lounsbury, the county’s top administrative official. Efforts to raise money through other means have not worked, he said.
The county’s attempt to raise more money for roads four years ago with a voter-approved two-cent gasoline tax was repealed by the Legislature the following year. The tax would have raised $1.2 million annually for city and county road projects. A bill that would have used some of the marijuana tax revenue for county road projects was vetoed by Gov. Greg Gianforte.
“It’s clear to me, the elected officials and other people in the county that people are fed up with property taxes,” Stack said. “The more options the legislature takes away from us, the fewer options we have. That’s the way it is, unfortunately.”
When staff put together the 2025 budget shortly after two bridges were closed earlier this year, it was clear the county did not have enough money to pay for the necessary repairs, Stack said.
The county has closed the Boy Scout Bridge on the southwest side of Seeley Lake in November 2023 due to extensive structural damage. While the county plans to replace the bridge, it is waiting to hear back on a federal grant to fund the $13 million project. The Maclay Bridge, which closed in January, reopened in June after repairs.
The bridges are just two of about a dozen high-priority bridges that would cost about $63.3 million to replace, Stack told commissioners Thursday. Based on the average cost and life expectancy of all bridges, the county would have to spend about $2.2 million a year, he said.
“These are very expensive pieces of infrastructure that we can neither repair nor replace,” Stack said.
The building department is currently more focused on applying for grants, but needs money for the local grants, Stack said.
In addition to repairing the county’s bridges, revenue from the levy would also be used to pave or seal roads with gravel more regularly, Stack said. The county currently spends about $500,000 a year on that work, though it should be spending about $2.7 million, he said.
A 2020 assessment of the county’s 254 miles of paved roads estimated that all necessary repairs would cost $23 million at the time, a price that has likely risen since then, Stack said. The study included an updated road condition map showing how many roads continue to deteriorate.
The tax revenue could also be used to finance the maintenance of the 75 kilometers of hiking trails for which the district is responsible, said Stack.
While the $1.8 million raised from the levy would not cover all costs, it would help close the gap, he said.
“If we don’t get enough or adequate funding to maintain infrastructure, we’re going to continue to see its deterioration,” Stack said. “More bridges will be closed, more asphalt roads will become gravel roads, more potholes will appear on both asphalt and gravel roads. … If we can spend more now, we’ll save more on future replacement costs.”
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