Missoula County unveils FY ’23 budget, cites high inflationary increases

Martin Kidston/Missoula Current

Missoula County on Thursday unveiled its proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget, which includes a roughly $5.3 million increase over the last year's base budget, largely due to what the county described as inflationary increases.

The impact on property owners amounts to a roughly $22.70 increase in taxes for every $100,000 of a property's assessed value within city limits. The impact outside city limits is roughly $25.05 for a home of the same value.

Chief Financial Officer Andrew Czorny said commissioners considered more than 100 new budgetary requests from various departments and declined more than $2 million worth.

What remains is around $1.3 million in new one-time requests, which the county proposes funding from cash savings. The county will also consider around $822,000 in new spending that would be funded by property owners.

The total proposed budget includes an increase in expenditures of around 10.9%. Within that lies a 17% increase in personnel expenditures, a 3% increase in operational expenditures and a 27% increase in capital expenditures, among others.

Czorny said a nearly 9.6% increase in the consumer price index was largely behind the budget's inflation over last year.

Editor's Note: This is a developing story and will be updated.