Kalispell City Council approved a $179.9 million budget for fiscal year 2026 on Monday.

The figure is slightly lower than fiscal year 2025’s $180.7 million spending plan and $2.3 million less than the preliminary 2026 budget approved in June.

“We’re not seeing a budget bloated with different things coming in that don’t belong in city government,” said Mayor Mark Johnson on Aug. 18. “We’re not adding services; we’re not adding departments; we’re not adding programs.”

The city’s $17 million general fund, which comes mostly from property taxes, increased by $186,334 from the preliminary budget. The change is primarily due to funds needed for the turnover in the city manager position following Doug Russell’s Aug. 20 departure.

Officials allocated $122,000 for the city manager’s accrued lea

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