City and county officials met with a number of area legislators during a June 14 meeting to talk about community priorities going into the next legislative session.

Among the issues discussed were property taxes, tax increment financing, tax abatement, housing, transportation, land use, marijuana taxation, military support and local control.

Local officials raised concern about CI-121, a proposed amendment to the state tax structure.

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City Manager Greg Doyon said that he thinks if that initiative makes it to the November ballot and is approved by voters, it will make it more difficult for local governments to provide services.

Currently, local governments are limited by state law on how much they can raise property taxes and that rate is one-half the average rate of inflation for the prior three years.

This year, that rate is 1.77 percent.

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The city didn’t take the inflationary factor last year and is able to add it to this year’s budget, so officials are looking at a 3.75 percent inflationary factor this year. That would generate an estimated $641,691 for the general fund. For comparison, the cost of a new fire engine is about $750,000.

County Commissioner Joe Briggs said that CI-121 is “a terrible solution to a real problem.”

He said the influx of out of state money is driving up property values under the state’s tax valuation system and is making housing unaffordable to longtime residents.

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“We need to take seriously the calls for property tax reform and figure out a better system of doing the appraisal process,” Briggs said. “Solutions by initiative don’t tend to work very well.”

He told lawmakers that local governments need the Legislature “to work diligently” on tax reform.

Doyon and Briggs told lawmakers that they’re also looking for more state-level support for the military when it comes to retaining missions or advocating for new ones.

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Montana is “way behind in how it advocates for its military,” Doyon said.

The local Montana Defense Alliance does some of the advocacy work but doesn’t have the capacity that other communities have to retain and recruit new missions, Doyon said.

The Air Force has started gauging local education systems and quality of life when it comes to making basing decisions for missions and Doyon said the AF’s expectations are high.

“I’m not sure the legislature fully understands how behind we are on advocating for our military missions,” Doyon said.

The group also discussed the need for housing and development rules in the city.

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Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick said that he hears about the local rules for foundations as being more strict than some others.

Doyon said it’s state building code, but the city does have some stricter rules due to the soil conditions in the area.

The city was also subject to a slew of lawsuits years ago when foundations failed in certain developments.

Doyon said that in the short term if the city eliminated the requirements, it might make people feel good until they start getting sued.

The city has been revising its development review process and staff had proposed some changes to the foundation requirements that stalled out.