During their July 18 meeting, City Commissioners will be asked to set public hearings for Aug. 15 on several special assessments.

Commissioners annually set the special assessments for the boulevard district, streets, lighting district, park maintenance district and Portage Meadows as part of the budget process.

City staff review the assessments annually to determine if changes are needed to cover the costs of their specific purposes.

The boulevard district is a special assessment for the care and maintenance of more than 15,000 street trees, including pruning, removal, planting and streetscape design.

City continues review of proposed budget

The city assesses property owners within that district to cover the cost of those services performed by the Natural Resources Division of Great Falls Park and Recreation.

This year, city staff is recommending a six percent increase, or $5.77 for the average sized lot, to cover increased costs of maintaining the boulevard district trees for the upcoming fiscal year.

The last boulevard district increase was 12 percent in 2022, according to city staff.

There were no increases to the assessment in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID.

Staff is proposing $0.013581 per square foot, for a total of $481,875 and will equate to about $101.86 for an average size lot of 7,500 square feet.

City Commission continue budget discussion July 5

Commissioner will also set the park maintenance district assessment, which staff is recommending to remain the same.

The park district was approved by voters in 2018 to cover operation costs for city parks and recreation facilities, particularly focused on needs identified in a 2016 park and rec master plan.

The funds can’t be used for programming.

Staff is proposing to keep the cost at $1.5 million, the same level set in 2018.

The park district assessment is citywide and based on last year’s property valuations, the assessment is annually $24.44 on a $100,000 property; $48.88 on a $200,000 property, and $73.32 on a $300,000 property, according to staff.

City officials look at proposed budget, includes tax increases

The city has 27 special improvement lighting districts with about 9,429 total roadway lights.

Most of the lights are owned by NorthWestern Energy and the city pays a maintenance fee for the lights as well as a fee for electrical transmission and distribution.

The electrical supply for the street lights is from Energy Keepers on a city contract and the other three percent of roadway lights are city-owned, according to staff.

The lighting district assessment funds are used to maintain the light poles and cover electrical supply costs.

City staff estimates the district needs $1,325,660 for operations, a 14.1 percent increase over last year.

Not all of the districts will have an increased assessment as some have sufficient cash balance to cover operational costs, according to city staff. Some have been using fund balance to offset cost increases, but most don’t have enough to offset the city’s 200 percent increase in electricity costs, according to staff.

City officials begin budget discussion

The city maintains about 393 miles of streets and alleys and the street maintenance assessment covers those maintenance and traffic operation costs.

Staff is proposing a 10 percent increase for the new budget year, which began July 1.

The last street assessment increase was 10 percent in 2015 and since then, the cost of asphalt overlays have increased 38 percent, chip seal materials have increased 49 percent and winter maintenance material has increased 65 percent, according to staff.

The proposed 10 percent increase for this budget will allow for pavement preservation to continue at the same rate and account for inflation in material costs, according to staff.

The funds, coupled with state gas tax funds, will allow the street improvement program to continue at the same rate, according to staff.

City beginning budget process

There are four options for the street assessment:

• residential: square footage caps per parcel of 12,000 square feet for residential property and properties categorized as non-profit/cemetery organizations 501(c)(13) as defined by the federal revenue code
• downtown: downtown district is defined as being within an area bounded on the north by Third Alley North, on the south by Third Alley South, on the east by Tenth Street and on the west by Park Drive; any properties located in this area with specific designated residential land use codes will be assessed as part of the residential district
• mixed-use: Property equal to or greater than 112,000 square feet but less than 50 percent commercially developed. For the ‘mixed-use’ category, the Planning and Community Development Department annually identifies those properties and they are assessed at 50 percent commercial and 50 percent at capped residential
• commercial: one million square foot cap for all other property. The one million square foot cap for all other property encourages large green areas on some private properties within the city.

For an average-sized residential lot of 7,500 square feet, the estimated assessment factor is $0.016170 per square foot, or about $121.27 annually. That’s an increase of $11.02, or 10 percent, over last year, for the average sized residential lot to generate $5,041,592 for the streets district.

Commissioners will also consider the Portage Meadows special improvement maintenance district assessment.

Commissioners review city budget, revenues trending down [2022]

The district was established in 1977 to maintain the green belt of the Portage Meadows addition for materials, snow removal, water, mowing, fertilizer aerification and tree pruning as part of the original planned unit development, according to staff.

Staff is proposing a 5 percent increase, or $18.32 annually, for the average sized lot to cover those costs.

The last increase was five percent in 2022 and there was no increased in 2020 or 2021.

The district total cost is an estimated $71,941 for the new budget year, according to staff.

That equates to an estimated assessment of $0.085463 per square foot for an annual $384.67 assessment for an average lot of 4,501 square feet, according to city staff.