Kalispell City Council approves fund aiding downtown facade improvements

Kalispell City Council approved Monday using tax increment financing funds to help downtown property owners make facade improvements.  

The city’s existing Facade Improvement Program, which gives out loans for improvements, requires design and engineering work as part of the process, according to city officials. The new funding is meant to provide technical assistance to downtown property owners applying to the program. 

Paying for professional services can prove a barrier to making improvements, said Development Services Director Jarod Nygren.   

“This would allow those small business owners downtown to ... get off the ground,” he said.   

The money comes from the Downtown and West Side/Core Area tax increment financing districts, which aim to address blight and promote economic development in those areas.  

The districts would allocate $20,000 a year for five years to the effort. The business improvement district plans to assist four property owners each year, amounting to 20 property owners.      

City Manager Doug Russell said that the program should not put strain on future potential projects. 

“What we’re looking to do is really bridge that chasm between what the city has to offer for resources for downtown property owners, and what they understand they can do,” Kalispell Business Improvement District Board Chair Kisa Davison said. 

“We hope with this [tax increment financing] technical assistance, they’ll be able to hire engineering firms to help them understand what they have access to,” she said.  

COUNCIL ALSO approved a list of legislative priorities drawn up in previous weeks, but not before adding an item brought forth by Councilor Ryan Hunter. He asked that the city lend support to legislation addressing shortages of affordable child care. 

“I think it affects our community in multiple ways, and it's hard because the primary cost of child care is the labor and to attract good quality people in child care, you have to pay them a decent wage,” Hunter said.  

Other priorities included legislation promoting a voter approved resort tax, public infrastructure assistance, expanded tax increment financing, affordable housing, mental health programs, special districts, environmental quality and public resource management.  

Hunter unsuccessfully attempted to amend other language in the document, often butting heads with Councilor Chad Graham. 

One amendment would have added language that a local option sales tax, otherwise known as a resort tax, would specifically target tourists. Graham argued that targeting people living in the county would also be beneficial.  

Mayor Mark Johnson reiterated that keeping the language broad will help when looking for bills to lobby for, though he deemed it a doomed mission. 

“We have representatives controlling what happens to cities, living in counties,” said Johnson. 

A resort tax in Kalispell is unappealing to them, he said.  

Hunter worried that such a tax may disproportionately affect low-income households.  

“I don’t want to put the burden on lower income people in order to relieve the property taxes of wealthy people,” he said.   

Graham argued that a decreased property tax resulting from a resort tax would flow down to residents.   

Hunter also pushed to enshrine the word sustainable in the clause referring to public resource management.  

“I don’t want management that pollutes our waters or pollutes our air,” he said.  

Other councilors argued that sustainable has a broad range of meanings, and did not want to restrict themselves. 

COUNCIL ALSO reappointed Rod Kuntz as the city representative to the Flathead City-County Board of Health.  

Hunter opposed the reappointment, saying that Kuntz was unqualified for the position.  

Kuntz was a Ward 3 councilor, serving for five years until losing his seat to Hunter in 2019. He ran again in 2021, losing narrowly to Councilor Jessica Dahlman. 

“The impression was given that he was appointed because of his political alliances rather than any qualifications,” Hunter said. 

Nygren’s appointment to environmental certifying officer also met with criticism from Hunter. He voted in favor of Nygren’s appointment but suggested that in the future Council choose someone with a background in environmental science. 

The environmental certifying officer completes environmental studies and provides environmental assurances to state and federal officers on behalf of the city, according to a report from Nygren. 

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.