Montana closed out Fiscal Year 2025 with general fund revenues growing 4.1 percent — a swing of nearly six percentage points from the 1.7 percent decline that budget writers had penciled in, according to a report from the Legislative Fiscal Division published late last month.
The growth was driven primarily by income tax collections, which outpaced projections by a significant margin. The reversal matters for Helena because state government is the city's largest employer, and general fund performance shapes everything from agency staffing levels to the capital projects that flow through town. A stronger-than-expected revenue picture heading into the next biennium gives lawmakers and the governor more room to maneuver — though the Fiscal Division report noted that "pressures" on the budget remain.
The report lands as the Legislature has wrapped its session and agency budgets for the 2026-2027 biennium are being finalized. Rep. Jane Gillette, who has been involved in budget work this session, was pictured with the biennium budget documents as the report circulated. The Fiscal Division, which serves as the Legislature's nonpartisan number-crunching arm, publishes these revenue tracking reports regularly to give lawmakers a read on how actual collections compare to the assumptions baked into appropriations.
For Helena residents, the practical effects of a healthier general fund tend to show up slowly — in whether state agencies hire or hold positions vacant, in the condition of state-owned buildings around the Capitol complex, and in whether the next session opens with a surplus or a shortfall to close. The Fiscal Division's report doesn't project what comes next, but the FY2025 overage gives the state a cushion it wasn't expecting to have.