The Great Falls City Commission passed a $169 million budget for fiscal year 2027 on Tuesday, approving property tax increases that will add roughly $61 to the annual bill for a home assessed at $600,000. The budget also draws $631,732 from general fund reserves to cover operating expenses — a practice city commissioners acknowledged has been chipping away at the reserve balance for several years running.
The reserve drawdown is the part of the budget that finance watchers tend to flag. Using reserves to cover recurring expenses is generally considered a yellow light in municipal finance: it works until it doesn't, and when reserves run low, the choices get harder. Great Falls commissioners did not indicate Tuesday whether they plan to arrest the trend in future budget cycles.
For Helena readers, the Great Falls vote is worth a look because the Helena City Commission faces structurally similar pressures — rising personnel costs, aging infrastructure and a property tax base that can only absorb so many consecutive increases before it becomes a political problem. Whether Helena's reserve picture is in better or worse shape than Great Falls is a question the commission's own budget documents will answer when the city's 2027 process gets underway.
Not every department request made it into the Great Falls budget, according to commission discussion Tuesday, which is typical for municipal budget seasons where requests routinely outpace available revenue. Final approval of the property tax increase will require a second vote.