Cost and tax information

The chart below shows how much homeowners will pay for the bond, based on their home's value. It's equal to $52.66 for every $100,000 of a home's value.  

As explained above, with the recent Department of Revenue adjustments, the median home in Billings is now valued at $307,600. The owner of a home at that value would pay $162 a year, or $13.50 a month.

For exact home value information, visit the Montana Department of Revenue website, and enter your name or address to see your home's value. 

Once you know your home's value, use this equation to figure out how much your property tax bill would increase each year with the bond: Market Value ÷ 100,000 × 52.66 = estimated annual cost

Bonds are issued in 20-year terms. Costs will be phased in as funds are borrowed. Because construction will not occur all in the first year, the cost will be phased in over the next three to five years.   

The tables above show how a growing tax base decreases the amount homeowners are paying on past bond issues. In the November 2006 election, voters approved a bond that originally levied 7.07 mills for Dehler Park, which was Cobb Field at the time. Since then, the mills being levied now sit at 3.45, which equals a 51% decrease. The Dehler Park bond will end and be removed from property tax bills in four years. 

A similar example is the Billings Public Library, which began construction in 2012. Between then and now, there has been a 52% decrease in the mills being levied, which originally started at 6.12 and is now 2.94. 

The table below shows the cost of each project, the funds that are available for each project, and the amount that will be bonded if voters approve during the November election. 

Where are the available funds coming from? Here are the details: 

Multi-Generational Recreation Center - $25 million - The SBURA TIF district will be bonding the first portion of the recreation center. These aren't new taxes for people and businesses in that area of town. This is using the captured increment for the benefit of the whole city.

Stagecoach Trail & Trail Projects - $6.875 million - Federal Transportation Alternative Program grants for the Stagecoach Trail and Trail Connections projects. Also includes $425,000 to be raised by Billings TrailNet to help with our matching funds required by the grants. 

Cottonwood Park - $400,000 - These are funds that developers contributed instead of building neighborhood parks in many of the west end subdivisions built over the past 20 years.

The tables below show how much the value of a median home changed with the 2023 tax assessments. 

The graph below is a snapshot of what the owner of a median home located in the county seat pays in taxes.