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6/30/2025
City wades into new tax environment
Great Falls will use reserves to cover general fund expenses and skip a health care levy for the coming year as annual budget work begins.
City commissioners and staff met for a work session last week to discuss the general fund, which is largely funded by property taxes and covers major functions like public safety, administration and parks.
Officials have grappled with the challenge of sending limited general fund revenues to other funds, like the Scheels Aim High Big Sky recreation center, that have required subsidies to cover costs. And the revenue outlook is more challenging with the ongoing Calumet tax protest and major changes to the property tax structure following the legislative session.
The city is planning for a $42.4 million general fund that includes inflationary increases in the property tax mill levy, estimated newly taxable property and the return of 3.5 mills from the Great Falls Public Library. The city has opted not to increase the permissive medical levy, which helps to cover health care expenses. This is due in part because the city has altered its cost-share for health insurance so that employees cover 20% of costs rather than 15%, reducing the city’s burden.
The city expects to use $647,845 in general fund reserves to balance the budget, which will still leave the reserve above the recommended level. Going forward, budget shortfalls will cut more deeply into reserves with the end of COVID-era aid that helped cover gaps in recent years.
The Calumet tax protest continues to divert expected revenues. While Calumet has paid its taxes, the funds aren’t distributed to local governments while the appeal is ongoing. Great Falls missed out on $1.1 million in revenue in 2024 due to the protest, as well as $662,000 in the current fiscal year. The city is budgeting with the expectation that it will not receive those funds in the coming year. When Calumet reaches a settlement with the Montana Department of Revenue, tax proceeds will be released for those prior years at the agreed-upon amount.
At last week’s meeting, City Manager Greg Doyon said that money could have balanced the budget, eliminating the need to spend reserve funds.
“It’s very likely that had that been resolved we wouldn’t have had to use the amount of fund balance that we have been using,” he said.
The proposed increase to the property tax mill levy for the coming fiscal year would amount to about $7.74 for the year on a $300,000 home or $17.80 on a $600,000 home.
The proposed budget calls for $43 million in spending, an increase of $2.2 million over the current year. Much of that growth is in labor, and the final costs could change as the city works through labor negotiations. Two unions, Montana Federation of Public Employees Local 233 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 233, have agreed to the 20% health insurance cost share and have contracts before the city commission on Tuesday. Four other unions are still negotiating.
Spending is also influenced by how the general fund supports revenue-generating funds that can’t cover expenses. Those include the city’s swimming pools, Civic Center events and the Scheels Aim High Big Sky recreation center. In total, 10 struggling funds could pull about $1.6 million from the general fund.
Aim High Big Sky is budgeted for a $400,000 subsidy in the coming fiscal year as the facility has struggled to cover costs in its first year of operation.
The city will conduct studies to examine the business operations of Civic Center events and cost recovery options for Park and Recreation, including Aim High Big Sky, to try and make those funds more self-sufficient.
This budget planning is for the 2026 fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2025, and runs through June 30, 2026. Once that budget is approved, officials indicated that planning for the 2027 fiscal year budget will begin almost immediately afterward.
“Next year’s budget is going to be more difficult than this year’s budget,” Doyon said.
Future lawsuit for treatment at the county jail?
Last week, Cascade County commissioners rejected a request for compensation from a man who claimed that his medication needs were ignored for more than four days while he was an inmate at the Cascade County Detention Center.
Joseph Patrick Furr, 74, requested $250,000 in compensation from both Cascade County and the city of Great Falls for his experience. If both entities reject the claims, a lawsuit could result.
In April 2024, Furr was charged with assault on a minor, a felony, and partner or family member assault, a misdemeanor. Court documents said that he abused a 10-year-old who was doing homework and made multiple comments about getting a gun. In early 2025, Furr pleaded guilty by Alford plea to assault on a minor.
An Alford plea is a guilty plea in which the defendant maintains innocence. Furr received a three-year deferred sentence.
Furr’s jail experience was the focus of his claims of mistreatment. After his initial arrest, an officer with the Great Falls Police Department brought Furr to the Cascade County Detention Center.
According to a letter submitted by Furr’s attorney, Furr told the officer that he needed medications. Court documents say that Furr takes various medications, including for his heart, acid reflux, gout, anxiety and other conditions. In filling out a jail intake form, the officer checked “no” on a box asking if Furr needed any medications, according to Furr’s attorney.
In holding cells with other inmates, Furr tried to request medications but did not get a detention officer to help. Furr’s condition deteriorated, and he could not stand. A nurse conducted a medical intake exam after nearly 4.5 days, and he then received his medication, the attorney’s letter says.
Furr claimed that the Great Falls officer was negligent in filling out the intake form and that jail staff ignored his requests for medicine.
This claim was placed on the county commission’s consent agenda, which is made up of “routine” items that are collected and voted on as a group. County commissioners and county staff didn’t discuss the claim during last week’s meeting or at a previous work session, where they review upcoming meeting agenda items. A staff memo for the claim said that it “contains insufficient facts,” that the county disputes the claim and that it should be denied at this stage.
Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter declined to comment on the claim, saying it involves pending litigation. Furr’s attorney declined to comment for the same reason. A city spokesperson didn’t return an inquiry by Friday morning.
Airport authority digs into details
The Great Falls International Airport Authority board last week approved a memorandum of agreement with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, though not before making some key revisions.
The federal agency had demanded that the airport pay more than $75,000 for computer and office equipment, as well as $9,700 in additional annual costs, to operate its customs services in Great Falls. The agency previously paid for that equipment but began asking airports across the country to pay up in recent years.
In working toward a final signed agreement, Great Falls Airport Director John Faulkner told the board that staff made some revisions to CBP’s document to clear up “ambiguous” language that could put the airport on the hook for more charges in the future.
“This agreement is more extensive in that they’re kind of looking ahead and saying, ‘There are other things that we’ll need,’” Faulkner said.
In its proposed agreement, CBP indicated that IT and telephone equipment may require additional “upgrades” at the agency’s discretion. The airport added language in the agreement requiring that CBP submit upgrade requests annually and that any additional costs would require approval by the airport authority board.
In addition, CBP set a $200,000 annual cost limit in the proposed agreement without language that outlined how costs below that amount would be met. The airport struck that line and said that annual cost limitations would need to be agreed to by CBP and the airport authority.
The airport authority board approved the agreement with those revisions, though board members continued to express frustration about the situation.
“They have us backed into a corner,” said board member Terry Thompson.
In March, the airport authority board approved a fee schedule for international flights specifically aimed at covering the costs for CBP’s equipment. For smaller airports, the new requests aren’t feasible. Administrators in Cut Bank told MTFP last month that CBP’s requests are more than the airport’s annual budget. They likely face losing the ability to clear international flights.
The revised Great Falls agreement will go back to CBP for review.
5 things to know in Great Falls
June 23 was signing day at the Great Falls International Airport as Prolific MT Basketball Academy founder Kareem Jamar signed a letter of intent to build a sports facility in the airport’s commercial corridor. The organization plans to build its own court and recreation space after using court space around town for nearly five years. A University of Montana basketball standout and former European professional player, Jamar said that phase one of the project will be to build court space, and Great Falls should see a public push for support soon. The project is called Terminal 360.
Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art announced Tracy Cosgrove as its new executive director. Cosgrove most recently was the finance director at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena and has also worked at the Missoula Art Museum and Forward Montana. “I believe that the transformative power of art and its experience in the museum setting should be available to all, and I am excited to work with The Square’s board and staff to leverage the museum’s success to amplify its impact in all areas — exhibitions, education and programming, collections, and ongoing preservation of the historic building,” Cosgrove said in a press release.
On June 23, the Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees approved about $200,000 in gifts from the estate of Nancy A. Cameron that will go toward media centers in two elementary school libraries. West Elementary will get $108,187 and West Elementary will get $92,079 from the estate.
The Great Falls Animal Shelter has secured funding for an outdoor kennel project that’s expected to be completed this fall. The shelter is planning for 20 outdoor kennels, two group play kennels and other medium-sized kennels. Funds have come from the ASPCA Northern Tier Shelter Initiative.
The 4th of July Hootenanny is Friday and includes a parade and free concert from artist Easton Corbin. The parade is scheduled for 11 a.m., and the concert begins at 1 p.m. at Central Avenue and Fifth Street. Food trucks will be on site.
Photo op
This photo of Great Falls from above was taken from a foggy airplane window on a recent flight. It shows Black Eagle in the bottom left corner and the 15th Street bridge forking into 14th and 15th Streets going southward.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
Public notice
The Great Falls City Commission will meet on Tuesday and hold a public hearing on the proposed Sanavita Estates independent senior living development from Benefis (more on that here).
Commissioners will also consider a conditional use permit for the city’s first cannabis cultivation facility, which is proposed off Sixth Street Southwest. Read more about that here.
The city commission agenda is available here.
Programming note
Great Falls This Week will take a summer break and will not publish editions on July 7 and July 14. The newsletter will return on July 21.
Thank you for your continued support and readership, and stay tuned to Montana Free Press for news from the rest of the editorial staff.
