Over the last three months, Kathleen Kimble and her husband Bill Fleischman, along with many of their Rose Park neighbors in Missoula, have received some distressing letters.
The Montana Free Press reports that in early November, the city of Missoula notified the retired couple they would owe $9,000 as part of an upcoming project to add or replace aging sidewalks along Franklin and Ivy streets. Under city code, residents are assessed for a portion of the sidewalk work adjacent to their property.
On top of last year’s significant property tax increase, the options to stretch sidewalk payments out over several years or defer payment until the house is sold do not provide the couple adequate financial relief, Kimble told Montana Free Press.
“Why is Missoula making it harder for two seniors on a fixed income to stay in their home?” she asked.
Although Missoula’s sidewalk program has evolved over the past 12 years to address rising costs, the Ivy/Franklin Greenway project resurfaced concerns over the burden on property owners.
In response to residents’ objections, three city council members are working on a proposal to do away with the assessments.
“At the end of the day, sidewalk is part of the transportation system, and I think the city should pay the full cost,” said Daniel Carlino, Missoula City Council member for Ward 3, which includes Rose Park. “We still want sidewalks to happen but don’t agree on forcing people to pay thousands of dollars.”
Rising Costs Spur Changes
The discussion around property owners’ share of sidewalk costs is not new and often resurfaces when the council approves a new project.
About one-third of Missoula’s total street miles lack sidewalks, adding up to more than 200 miles without pedestrian infrastructure, according to the city. Filling in those gaps is a long-term challenge, as the city typically builds one to three miles per year, according to the city’s Public Works and Mobility Department.
Missoula requires new construction to include sidewalks, but as old neighborhoods built without sidewalks fill in, the lack of that infrastructure is more of a problem, Jeremy Keene, public works director, said during a 2022 presentation detailing the sidewalk program.
Before 2012, property owners paid fully to add sidewalks adjacent to their property. To help residents offset rising costs, the city established a cost-sharing formula where it would pay up to $11,500. In 2017, the council increased that to $16,500 as construction expenses and project bids increased.
After public outcry in 2018 over a Slant Streets neighborhood sidewalk project that would have assessed 173 properties — including more than a dozen for amounts ranging from $10,000 to $40,000 — late mayor John Engen canceled the project, the Missoulian reported at the time.
Kimble’s Rose Park neighborhood home was part of that project as well, with her assessment nearly $39,000, she said.
The city council and staff reworked the cost-sharing formula, removing curb, gutter and associated street work expenses from the property owner assessment. Under the current rules, which took effect in 2020, property owners are assessed for adjacent sidewalks, driveway approaches and boulevard work.
For single-family homes and duplexes, the city pays the first $1,000, then splits costs until the property owner hits $3,500. The city pays up to $12,000 more, then the city and property owner split costs until the property owner pays $5,500 more, capping the owner’s cost at $9,000.
Assessments vary based on project and property, but most one- or two-family residences pay $3,500 or less, said Monte Sipe, Missoula’s surface project manager. Corner parcels typically range from $3,500 to $9,000, he said. For the recent Eaton Street sidewalk project, properties that surpassed the $1,000 threshold were assessed $255 to $8,400.
The council created a separate formula for multifamily, commercial and industrial properties. The city and property owner similarly split costs until the project total hits $20,000. The property owner pays anything higher than that amount, capping the city’s cost at $16,500.
Property owners can pay the assessment in full or over eight, 12 or 20 years. Residential properties with an assessment of more than $6,000 or those making less than 80% of the area median income can defer payment until the sale of their home. The amount deferred accrues interest, plus an administrative fee required by state law.
“We have a good program that attempts the best we can to offset impacts to property owners,” Sipe said. “I think we are ahead of the game.”
The amount of assessments the city collects annually varies, depending on the number and size of sidewalk projects, but is typically $100,000 to $250,000 per project, Sipe said.
Annually, the city budgets about $465,000 for sidewalk projects and uses gas tax money and, if applicable, transportation impact fees to fully fund projects, said Kevin Slovarp, city engineer for surface transportation.
Property owner assessments will pay for about 10% of the total estimated $1.7 million cost of the first phase of the project near Rose Park — adding or improving sidewalk along Ivy and Franklin from South Fourth Street West to Woodford Street — said Ross Mollenhauer, Public Works and Mobility engineering manager.
How Do Projects Get Chosen?
In recent years, the city shifted from building sidewalks outward from Missoula’s inner core to choosing from areas seeing infill development or specific corridors in need of sidewalks, according to the public works department.
The city council developed sidewalk project scoring criteria in 2019 that include: conformity to plans; connectivity to other sidewalks, trails or bus routes; access to key destinations like schools, parks and grocery stores; ability to leverage funding or redevelopment; and readiness. The scoring heavily weighs safety and equity, or how the project addresses underserved neighborhoods.
Staff prioritize and recommend projects based on the criteria, but ultimately the council decides on and budgets sidewalk work.
The Ivy/Franklin/Park Greenway project links several neighborhoods and connects to the California Street pedestrian bridge, as well as trails, bike lanes and other greenways, according to a document describing the project. Greenways are low-traffic neighborhood streets that prioritize pedestrian and bicycle travel, according to the city. It also provides a safe route to school for Paxson Elementary, Lewis and Clark Elementary and Washington Middle School.
The project is 16th on the city’s list of recommendations. Kimble said she, Fleischman and her neighbors questioned why it was moved ahead of other projects.
On Nov. 27, before the city council voted on ordering phase one of the Ivy/Franklin project forward, a handful of neighborhood residents voiced concerns about the cost and necessity of the project.
Mike Bader, 65, told the council his $6,400 assessment estimate is “kind of a tough pill.”
“I just got a 28% increase on my property taxes, and it doesn’t really end,” he said. “I think sidewalks and curbs are really good, they really improve neighborhoods. … But the hardship on individual homeowners is pretty steep.”
Gwen Jones, Ward 3 council member, said while the timing is bad, the city has limited money and resources for sidewalk projects.
“We still want to have some level of funding formula to get more infrastructure put in,” she said during the meeting. “I know this is a big project. A ton of work has gone into it and it’s queued up, it’s ready to go. We modified the funding formula as much as possible to make it more workable for the residents. There are a lot of folks in Missoula who paid 100% for their sidewalks, so this is a much better situation than those days.”
Council member Kristen Jordan pushed back on the claim that the project has priority because Franklin Street is a major walkway for school kids. Children walk on other nearby streets because Franklin does not have traffic lights at intersections with major roads like Stephens Avenue and Brooks Street, she said.
While staff and council have worked to alleviate the burden on homeowners, there’s always room for improvement, Jordan said during the meeting.
“I would definitely like to get to the point where we can pay for this out of general tax dollars,” she said. “I’m not sure where it would come from, and I think that’s the main problem because these are city assets.”
The city council voted 10-2 to move the project ahead. Bids are due Friday, Jan. 26, and the city will send property owners letters with updated assessment estimates and dates of upcoming committee and council meetings when the project will be considered.
In the coming weeks, the council will also consider a resolution drafted by council members Carlino, Jordan and Sandra Vasecka requiring the city to cover the full cost of sidewalk projects and no longer assess property owners. The proposal should go before the public works committee on the first or second Wednesday of February, Carlino said.
While the draft resolution does not propose a specific alternative funding source, Carlino told MTFP the council could increase the sidewalk budget, amounting to a small cost to many residents rather than large bills for a few.
“It’s really not a big cost to the city but can be a big cost to individual households,” he said.
Without an additional funding source, doing away with the assessment program would reduce the amount of sidewalk projects the city can do, Mollenhauer said.
While many council members who voted for the project said during the meeting on Nov. 27 that they would be open to future changes to the sidewalk program, affected residents urged the council to act before the Ivy/Franklin project goes ahead.
“We could be priced out of our houses,” Bader, the Rose Park resident, told MTFP. “We don’t want them to say, ‘You inspired us to change our policy without us actually helping you.’ That’s not right. It wouldn’t bring us any comfort at all. It wouldn’t reduce our financial burden one penny."
