Work on Helena's immigration resolution thus far cost the city upward of $90K

As discussions over a possible second Helena immigration resolution brew once more, sparked again after a wrongfully detained Bozeman man was held in a Helena-area Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, the question of the resolution’s cost has sprung up with it.

The reignited effort comes after a month of dormancy from the Helena City Commission, most of whose members publicly hesitated to try again to pass a resolution that saw both statewide scorn and celebration. The resolution urged Helena staff not to aid in immigration enforcement activities unless required by law.

Attorney General Austin Knudsen accused the resolution of violating so-called anti-sanctuary city law and promised an expensive lawsuit if Helena didn’t rescind the January resolution.

Since then, the cost of potential litigation has been the reason most-often cited by commissioners to back down, with some commissioners citing an estimate of $100,000 just to get the resolution passed and rescinded two months later.

But how much did Helena’s immigration resolution actually cost the city? At least $92,000 from November through April, according to city staff. Here’s how it was spent.

Outside counsel — $17.5K

Helena spent $17,481.72 for outside counsel from Tasha Jones of Boone Karlberg, who advised the city on the resolution’s legality when Knudsen announced his investigation, according to city records. She met with each commissioner individually and also attended city meetings, including the March 26 meeting that saw the resolution rescinded.

In fiscal year 2026, Helena’s legal budget for outside counsel sat at $35,000. By June, the final month in the fiscal year, expenses climbed up to $57,772.54, and the city dipped into the city manager’s operating budget to make up the difference, city spokesperson Amanda Opitz said.

Article Read the invoice for Helena's immigration resolution's outside counsel

Although only a fraction of the final legal expenses were related to the resolution, the overall strain on the city budget was a factor that intimidated city commissioners when considering facing Knudsen in a head-on legal fight.

“Unlike the attorney general, we cannot go ask the governor for a supplemental appropriation when we run out of money,” Mayor Emily Dean said when the Commission voted to rescind the resolution on March 26.

Public comment and venue — $4.5K

After the Jan. 26 Commission meeting in which the resolution was passed saw hours of public comment, with more than 300 in-person guests spilling into three overflow rooms and digital viewership ticking into the hundreds, the Commission opted to hold its March 26 rescinding meeting in the Civic Center.

The Civic Center auditorium cost $850 to rent, Opitz said. To accommodate remote attendance, an audio and video contract was signed for $3,675.

Although the March 26 special meeting was the only resolution meeting thus far to be held in the Civic Center, commissioners have spoken about any potential future attempts at passing a resolution likely needing another rental of the Civic Center.

Future meetings that mentioned the immigration resolution would also have increased security presence, including a July 6 meeting where at least four separate police officers stood guard during a pro-resolution protest.

Staff time — At least 1,160 hours

Between public safety personnel working overtime as security, after-hours work from at least five city departments and the drafting of a second immigration resolution, the hours that city staff had spent working on the resolution climbed to at least 1,160 hours by April 20.

That roughly $70,000 amounts to the remainder of what the city views as a $92,000 final bill for the immigration resolution thus far, staff approximated.

The rough estimate includes both overtime and standard working hours starting in November, when the first drafts of the resolution were created, through April when outside counsel found there was not unified consensus from the Commission on dropping or pursuing a second resolution. The March 26 meeting alone had staff from the attorney's office, city manager's office, city clerk's office, finance department, Helena Police, Helena Fire and Civic Center working until nearly midnight.

“Again, this is a very conservative estimate,” Opitz said Friday.

Calls for a second resolution

In May, momentum for a second resolution stalled when 3 of 5 city commissioners publicly leaned against it, all of them citing the costs. This did not formally kill the second resolution, but nearly all steps of a potential reattempt would need a majority of Commission approval.

Many in the pro-resolution camp find costs to be a poor excuse or "inflated," especially when including the staff hours.

“The city is your job,” Montana For Palestine’s Lily Clarke said July 6, after multiple public commenters rallied with signs reading “Reinstate Helena’s Anti-Ice Resolution.”

Dean has avoided directly addressing her stance on the matter, but City Commissioner Melinda Reed has repeatedly pushed for another immigration resolution. Reed has said legal battles are accounted for in the budget and that the matter of retaining local control was worth the money.

“Like it or not, what I’m seeing right now is people being ruled by fear,” Reed previously said of the Commission. “This will be a defining moment for Helena and its public trust.”

Most public commenters across all relevant meetings rallied in favor of the resolution, but some gawked at the costs, especially in the face of Knudsen’s expensive legal threat.

“There's no light at the end of this spending tunnel if we keep pursuing (a resolution),” commenter Elizabeth Hale said July 6.

City Commissioners Julia Gustafson, Ben Rigby and Sean Logan are those who are publicly against a second resolution. In their stated opinions, the resolution was a statement of values that could be upheld even without a piece of legal paper to formally voice them.

“The Commission and city have a lot on its plate, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how we balance the needs and requests from our community with budget, time and capacity limitations,” Gustafson previously told the Independent Record.

Another immigration resolution is not on any upcoming city meeting agendas.