City Commissioners will be asked during their July 16 meeting to set multiple public hearings on several proposed assessment increases for Aug. 20.

The commission is required to annually set the assessments as part of its budget process.

The proposed budget includes property tax increases.

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The annual budget process includes city staff reviewing financials for the assessment districts to determine their expenses, future projects and whether increases are needed to meet the district’s objectives.

Assessments are for specific services or areas of the city.

Boulevard district assessment

The Park and Recreation Department maintains more than 15,000 street trees located within the general boulevard district with pruning, removal, planting and streetscape design.

For the upcoming fiscal year, staff are proposing to increase the boulevard assessment by 6 percent or $6.11 for the average size lot to cover the increased costs of operations, which include personnel, tree planting fuel and more.

The proposed increased is an estimated $0.014396 per square foot, for a total of $510,788 and will result in an assessment of about $107.97 for an average size lot of 7,500 square feet.

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The last district increase was 6 percent in last year’s budget.

Setting the assessment requires a public hearing.

Commissioners could choose not to hold a public hearing and thereby deny the assessment, but “the reduction in services to trim, prune, spray, and maintain the trees within the district would be harmful and devastating to the overall shelter and beauty provided by the street trees to the community,” according to the city staff report.

Park district

In June 2018, commissioners created Great Falls Park District No. 1, which includes the incorporated city limits and any properties later annexed into the city.

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The district assessment funds can be used:

• to maintain, repair, replace, upkeep, install, improve, enhance operations, construct and/or acquire land;
• to implement measures required to maintain public health and safety or meet legal or regulatory requirements;
• to purchase, replace and/or maintain equipment, tools or vehicles used to carry out those functions;
• for other functions, labor, supplies and/or materials necessary for management and maintenance of city-owned facilities, lands and equipment in the Park and Recreation Department including but not limited to:
  • public parks and park areas as described in the 2016 park master plan, recreation facilities, trails, open space, urban forest, medians, boulevards, pathways, sidewalks, public easements, and other facilities which are located in the city limits and/or are owned by the city.

Park district funds cannot be used for programming.

City staff is proposing to assess $1.5 million for the park district, which is the same amount the city has assessed since the district’s creation.

The city hasn’t yet received its certified taxable values from the Montana Department of Revenue but is estimating the assessment based on last year’s values that the assessment for a $100,000 market value property would be $19.04; for a $200,000 property, it would be $38.08; and for a $300,000 property, it would be $57.12.

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If commissioners don’t hold the public hearing and opt not to levy the park district assessment, staff wrote in their agenda report that “the reduction in services and improvements to the park system including facilities and the urban forest, or maintenance will not improve and facilities will deteriorate or close.”

Lighting districts

There are 27 special improvement lighting districts with about 9.429 roadway lights.

The majority of the roadway lights are owned by NorthWestern Energy and the city pays a maintenance fee to the company for those lights in additional to a fee that covers the electrical transmission and distribution.

The city’s electrical supply for street lights is currently from Energy Keepers.

The remaining three percent of roadway lighting is city owned.

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The funds from the lighting district assessment are used to maintain the light poles and furnish the electrical supply for the districts annually.

The estimated amount for all of the lighting districts combined for the next budget year is $1,414,060, which is a 6.7 percent aggregate increase over last year.

Not all districts will have an increased assessment, only those with insufficient cash balance to cover operations costs.

Many districts have been using their fund balance in recent years to offset assessment increases, according to the city finance office.

Lighting district assessment history:

• $1,159,589 for 2017-2018
• $1,164,252 for 2018/2019
• $1,170,052 for 2019/2020
• $1,123,242 for 2020/2021
• $1,111,842 for 2021/2022
• $1,161,507 for 2022/2023
• $1,325,660 for 2023/2024
• $1,414,060 for the proposed 2024/2025 budget

Portage Meadows

In February 1977, commissioners created Special Improvement Maintenance District No. 1195 for the purpose of maintaining the Green Belt of the Portage Meadows Addition.

The assessment covers the costs for materials, snow removal labor, water, mowing labor, fertilizer costs and labor, aerification labor, and tree pruning, which was part of the original planned unit development.

The city agreed to provide those services when the land area was donated to the city.

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Staff is proposing an assessment increase of 5 percent, or $19.23, for the average size lot to cover the increases operational costs for the next budget.

The last Portage Meadows increase was 5 percent last year.

The estimated Portage Meadows assessment for the next budget year is $0.089736 per square foot, a total of $75,538, for an annual assessment of approximately $403.90 for an average lot of 4,501 square feet.

Street maintenance assessment

The city street division maintains about 393 miles of streets and alleys within the city limits.

Maintenance includes pavement rehabilitation and restoration, street cleaning, snow and ice removal, alley maintenance, and the nuisance weed program.

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Traffic operations are also funded through the street division and maintain all roadway signs, signals and pavement markings.

City staff are proposing a 10 percent increase in the next budget.

The assessment was increased by 10 percent last year.

The city uses the “assessable area” option under state law to assess its street maintenance.

The assessable area option defines assessable area by square footage caps and for options for assessments exist:

• 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 Internal Revenue Code.
• Downtown: the 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 a certain designated residential land use code are excluded from the district and assessed as part of the residential district.
• Mixed-Use: a ‘mixed-use’ category consists of 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 shall annually identify all property equal to or greater than 112,000 square feet which are 50 percent or less commercially developed. Those properties shall be assessed 50 percent commercial and 50 percent at capped residential.
• Commercial: one million square foot cap for all other property, which is meant to encourage large green areas on some private properties within the city.

For the next budget year, staff is proposing to increase the street maintenance assessment by 10 percent, or $12.11 for the average-sized residential lot.

The estimated total assessment for the district is $5,545,751.

For an average-sized residential lot of 7,500 square feet, the estimated assessment factor is $0.017759 per square foot, or about $133.20.

According to city staff, if the commission doesn’t levy the assessment, “there would be a significant reduction in services for street maintenance.”