City Councilors Sid Daoud and Ryan Hunter have filed for the position and Kalispell Business Improvement District Chair Kisa Davison announced earlier this month her intent to seek the job.

‍Mayor Mark Johnson has presided over the municipality since he was first elected in 2013. But the three-term mayor announced in January that he would forgo another campaign, leaving the spot open for someone new.  Interested parties have until 5 p.m., June 11 to file for candidacy. Municipal elections are scheduled for Nov. 4. Four Council seats in Ward 1 through 4 are on the ballot this upcoming election as well. So far, former English teacher and historian Bruce Guthrie has filed to run for the Ward 4 seat currently occupied by Councilor Jed Fisher, who has not refiled yet.

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President Donald Trump’s administration is trying to merge the government’s wildland firefighting efforts into a single agency, a move some former federal officials warn could increase the risk of catastrophic blazes and ultimately cost billions of dollars.

Trump’s budget would centralize firefighting efforts now split among five agencies and two Cabinet departments into a single Federal Wildland Fire Service under the U.S. Interior Department. That would mean shifting thousands of personnel from the U.S. Forest Service — where most federal firefighters now work — into the new agency with fire season already underway. Budget documents do not disclose how much the change could cost or save. The personnel declines and proposed agency reshuffling come as climate change makes fires more severe by warming and drying the landscape.
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The major property tax relief package signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte this month is set to bring double-digit property tax cuts to many Montana homeowners and landlords by the time it is fully implemented in 2026, according to projections from the Montana Department of Revenue.

It will also bring massive tax increases — in excess of 60% — to many residential properties that don’t qualify for a new “homestead” exemption aimed at reducing the tax burden on primary residences. Similarly, taxes on commercial and industrial business properties are expected to rise this year as the new tax code offers up homeowner relief via interim rates. Earlier versions of the projections were widely circulated among lawmakers and lobbyists as they considered different proposals aimed at tackling rising homeowner property taxes during this year’s legislative session.