budget

The U.S. Senate took a broadly bipartisan vote early Saturday to approve a $1.2 trillion spending package, sending the measure to President Joe Biden for his signature with no time to spare after missing a midnight deadline.

Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday released her proposed $16 billion budget for the 2025 fiscal year, as well as her plan for shoring up what she estimates will be a roughly $460 million deficit in the current budget.

The budget deficit that Arizona lawmakers will be grappling with when they return to work in January will be much larger than what was expected just a couple of months ago, state budget analysts say.

The Idaho Legislature in 2021 passed a law requiring local governments — like cities, counties and school districts — to uniformly report their accounting information.

County officials said local residents would have seen a tax decrease this year if not for the increased value of homes. The Legislature's failure to lower the residential tax rate from 1.35% to .94%, as recommended by DOR, also played a role.

In a four-hour show of priorities and opinions, the Missoula City Council on Wednesday considered a long list of amendments to the new city budget that would either add new costs or cut them.

With an increase in appraisal values across Missoula, the City Council will levy fewer mills to raise more revenue for next year's fiscal budget. It's also looking to fund more than $6.3 million in new programs, bringing the city's total tax-supported revenue to $111 million – up from $105 million last year.

Calling housing, inequity and climate a city-wide goal shared by the vast majority of residents, Mayor Jordan Hess on Monday framed his new executive budget based upon the state's new property appraisals and said a tax increase was inevitable.

Unreliable equipment and changing expectations around policing are fueling new requests in this year's Missoula Police Department budget, including the need for dependable car and body cameras, and several new vehicles.

While the department's new requests add up to around $1.59 million, they don't yet include probable requests around homelessness and shelter. Those requests will be presented in the coming weeks.