Whitefish City Council Approves Final Budget with Additional Mills

A split Whitefish city council on Monday night approved a Fiscal Year 2027 budget that captures 10 more mills than the preliminary budget presented earlier in the year after city staff expressed serious concern that the city’s roughly 27 carryover mills could be stripped in the upcoming legislative session. 

Mayor John Muhlfeld cast the deciding vote for the budget’s approval following a 3-3 deadlock, with Councilors Rebecca Norton, Andy Feury and Frank Sweeney also voting in favor for the version of the budget with 10 additional mills. 

An initial motion for approval of the same FY 27 budget, but with only five additional mills, failed along the same voting lines, with Councilors Giuseppe Caltabiano, Ben Davis and Steve Qunell voting in favor of what they viewed as a compromise approach to the potential loss in carryover mills. 

The approval of the budget with 10 additional mills means primary residence/long-term rental properties with a median home value of $1 million will see around a 6.6% increase — an uptick from the roughly 1% increase the same homeowner would’ve seen if the budget with only five additional mills was approved, according to city documents. Based on the city’s 2026 certified taxable value released Aug. 3, one mill equates to $121,346.206.

The FY 27 budget includes appropriations for a series of capital projects, as well as sets aside funds so all city positions reach the market rate salaries and pay that were identified in the 2024 wage market rate study. New positions are also added in the budget, including a second city mechanic, a weekend park maintenance tech, and an assistant library director. 

Carryover, or “carry-forward,” mills refer to unused mill levy capacity. Under Montana Code Annotated 15-10-420, if a local government or taxing jurisdiction doesn’t levy the absolute maximum number of mills allowed in a given year, it can “carry forward” that unused taxing authority and impose it in a later year.

Reading the tea leaves for the 2027 legislative session, City Manager Dana Meeker told councilors at budget work sessions earlier this month there’s legitimate reason to believe that the city’s ability to carry forward mills will be taken away next year. She stood by this message on Monday night.

“My biggest concern is that the county came out and said we’re levying our carryover mills because of the uncertainty,” Meeker said. “I think other communities likely are as well, and my concern is once they see that, they’re going to eliminate what’s remaining.”

Councilors in support of capturing 10 additional mills, meaning the city would still have about 12 carryover mills on the table, argued the extra wiggle room ensures future city councils still have tools at its disposal to address already identified capital needs, such as staffing a second fire station north of the Baker Avenue viaduct.  

“We are living in very, very expensive times, but I feel like it’s imperative that we deal with our fire risk,” Norton said. “If this is one way to possibly fund the firefighters that we need, and we can actually build a second fire station in two, three years, and get an expert to manage our fire risk, I think it’s worth it to increase the taxes in a year where our taxable value came back higher than we expected.”

Feury, who’s been a vocal advocate for the city picking up as many carryover mills as possible in this year’s budget, noted the city council has kept taxes relatively flat over the last six years, essentially “kicking the can down the road” and making future council’s, city manager’s and department head’s “job much more difficult in the future by not having a secured source of revenue.”

“I understand keeping it flat, and I voted for that for the last five budgets in a row. I’ve been with everybody on that,” Feury said. “But the other thing I’ve learned over all the times I’ve been through budgets is when you have an opportunity to increase revenues, build reserves, and it has minimal impact on the taxpayers, that’s the best time to do it.”

Other councilors, however, voiced reservations about collecting additional taxes primarily out of concern that future legislation might restrict the city’s flexibility.

“I will not support 10 mills or anything more than five mills; that’s a compromise that I can support within this council,” Caltabiano said. “I believe that taxing authority is not really a use it or lose it coupon. If we don’t need the money today, we should not collect it from the taxpayers today.”

Qunell, who made the original motion for the budget with five additional mills, described capturing only five additional mills as a “middle ground” that keeps taxes flat, especially as other day-to-day costs continue to compound for the city’s residents. 

“If we look at what’s going on in this country, everything is up,” Qunell said. “Just in the city of Whitefish … gas is up anywhere from six to 10%. Utilities are up 20%. We have mandatory increases in our trash and water, 3.5%. We have an opportunity to keep taxes level with the current budget as it’s presented, and I think that’s fair to the people of Whitefish.”

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