I am a small business owner within the city of Missoula, and my city taxes are being raised. I understand that taxes will rise, as all costs do. I see rising costs all of the time in my business and understand that this happens. What I don’t understand is why the city continues to make choices that create revenue shortfalls that eventually require them to raise taxes. Choices such as annexing property far from the city limits, where the city’s cost to provide services is even higher than if they focused on areas within, or contiguous to the city.

We’ve heard many times in the media during the last year that the costs of providing services to residential developments are higher than the tax revenue they receive. Local officials repeat this fact, going so far as to say that commercial development is critical to fill in those budget shortfalls created by residential development. As a business owner, I am expected to operate in a financially sound manner. I am angry that the city isn’t also required to do so, and that they make poor financial decisions that cost us all money, which only benefit a few. Why does the city favor developers outside city limits over business owners and regular taxpayers that are already part of the city? Why do they choose such developments over sound management of the public’s funds? Recent news stories have highlighted that the city has been relying on impact fees to fund increases in the budget, even while the cost of those services outstrips tax revenue. Living on growth is not sustainable fiscal policy. It’s like they expect to be able to live on credit cards forever, and are shocked when they can’t get any new ones!

As taxpayers in the city of Missoula, you and I are subsidizing sprawl outside of city limits. Our tax dollars are subsidizing development that compromises historic semi-rural neighborhoods, and the money is going to the developers. These annexations are small islands of property, not even close to being adjacent to the city limits. You can tell the city to limit their exposure to unsustainable practices by not expanding the city limits willy-nilly and in a hodge podge manner.
A new planning process, the Urban Fridge Development Area, has caused the city to map all of the resources necessary for looking to the future to plan developments and infrastructure. The results of this endeavor show that Missoula doesn’t need to panic. We have adequate space with existing zoning to accommodate new people and houses; there isn’t a crisis! It shows that it is time to focus inward, to put the growth where it best fits, and that is not in the outlying areas. It found that there is room for growth within the urban core of Missoula, even in adjacent areas, without the need to dramatically increase density, without the need to dramatically change the character of our neighborhoods. If only that planning had been done before sewer was run up the Rattlesnake, or out Mullan Road, a lot of sprawl that has taken place might have been prevented. A lot of costs incurred also might have been prevented. If only this information had been available back then, we might have prevented 20 years of unsustainable growth, preventing the sprawl that we now see and putting us where we are now.

It is time to focus inward, to be fiscally soundand to heed new information as it becomes available, even if it says we have been wrong. Tell the city not to annex these isolated areas. They will be discussing one such annexation on Oct. 27 at their Monday night council meeting (starting at 7 p.m.). Tell them to stop raising taxes, and to stop growing Missoula in a way that forces tax increases. Tell them to say no to the annexation of the subdivision called Stonybrook!

Jon Turner resides in Missoula.

From the Missoulian: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/10/24/opinion/guest/guest20.txt