MISSOULA, Mont. – The city of Missoula is introducing new financing options to help residents tackle the cost of sidewalk repairs. This initiative aims to make sidewalk improvements more accessible and affordable for all community members.
The city is expanding equitable financing options, including deferral programs and cost-sharing for hazardous sidewalks. The goal is to ease the financial burden for property owners, ensuring sidewalks are safe and accessible.
Ross Mullenhauer, Missoula’s Engineering Manager, explained the new program’s benefits. “Let’s say you have a nine thousand dollar bill for your sidewalk assessment piece. You could choose to defer it, and in the past, it was only eligible for income-qualified property owners that had less than eighty percent of the adjust area mean income (AMI),” Mullenhauer said. “We just changed that to be 120%, less than 120% so that really brings it makes it so low to moderate income property owners are now eligible for that option to defer.”…