Assessments
The City administers the following assessments, which are placed on tax bills.
Landfill Monitoring and Maintenance
The City created a new assessment in November 2010 to pay for the monitoring and maintenance of a landfill that was closed officially in 2003, but had ceased operation much earlier. The annual fee is a flat amount of $6.00 for vacant or residential properties and a graduated amount for commercial properties based on their impervious area (developed area that does not allow absorption of rainwater). The commercial fees vary from a minimum of $15.00 to a maximum of $90.00 per parcel.
Lighting Districts:
Neighborhoods create lighting districts to pay for the cost of street lights in their area. Currently there are 50 districts. The charges generally are assessed on a square-foot basis and vary by district. Lighting district rates are based on cash flow needs of the district and estimated costs of the next years electrical usage.
Open Space:
The general purpose of the open space district is to protect, maintain, preserve, restore, and care for the City of Helena's open space lands or natural parks. This cost will be assessed to each lot or parcel in the City of Helena with base amounts of $17.00 per lot, plus $0.00215 per square foot of impervious area in excess of 2,222 square feet for each lot.
Sidewalk Replacement:
This is an annual charge for a period of nine years assessed to those property owners who volunteered to participate in the City’s annual sidewalk replacement program.
Solid Waste:
This assessment is for the collection and disposal of residential solid waste. Housing units up to, and including, a four-plex are charged on the tax bill. The residential collection rate is $182.68 per residential unit per year. Taxpayers qualifying for the State Property Tax Assistance Program receive a 50% reduction for their solid waste assessment.
Each year you are allowed to haul 1.5 tons to the transfer station without incurring any additional charges. If you exceed the 2 ton limit, overages are billed to you directly and charged at the current tipping rate of $70.75 per ton.
Loads brought in containing only acceptable recyclable material do not count against the 1.5 ton limit and are not subject to additional transfer station charges.
Special Improvement Districts (SIDs):
This is an annual charge for a period of 15 years to pay for the cost of major improvements such as water mains, sewer mains, and/or paving requested by the property owners or developers.
SID Payoffs:
For information on special improvement district payoffs, please call 447-8415 or 447-8416. Please have your property identification number available. This is the 15-digit number in the upper right hand corner of your tax bill.
Storm Water Utility:
The dollars generated by this assessment help finance improvements to the City’s storm water drainage system. The storm water utility assessment rate was increased for tax year 2012. The new rate is 0.01302 cents per square foot of impervious area in excess of 2,222 sq. ft. Impervious or impermeable area includes such things as driveways, parking lots and roofs. The minimum charge for a property, including vacant parcels, is $28.92 per year. Taxpayers qualifying for the State Property Tax Assistance Program receive a 50% reduction for their storm water utility assessment.
Street Maintenance:
This assessment pays for the operation of the City street and traffic divisions. These divisions routinely provide services such as street repair, cleaning, sweeping, snow removal, traffic signals, data collection, signs and pavement markings. The street maintenance rate was increased for 2012. The new rates are listed below.
1) Vacant or Residential $132.28 flat fee
2) Manufactured or Mobile Home Dwelling Units, located within a licensed mobile home park $52.91 flat rate per dwelling unit
3) Commercial(6000 sq ft or more) $0.02204/sq. ft., $132.28 minimum, $22,040.00 maximum
4) Commercial Residential(less than 6000 sq ft) $132.28 /lot or parcel
Urban Forest District:
The Urban Forest District was created in November 2010. This annual $20.00 per property charge. The district will increase the City's ability to meet the Tree Maintenance District's original mandate to plant, protect, maintain, preserve and care for trees in public parks, City rights-of-way and on open space land.