FAQs

Catch the Rain

  • In short, yes. Montana has no regulations or laws against rainwater harvesting. Some Homeowners Associations may limit or restrict the use of rain barrels, so it’s best practice to review your HOA’s rules before moving forward with rain barrel installation.

  • Rain barrels are relatively low maintenance, but taking a few simple steps can expand the lifetime of your water collection system.

    Make sure to use collected water between rain events so that there’s room for the next storm. This will help water from stagnating and ensure that you’re collecting as much water as possible.

    Before and after you set up your rain barrel, make sure that your gutters are fairly clean. Leaves and pine needles won’t clog the diverter but decomposed organic matter will. How well you maintain your gutters affects the degree of performance of your system as well as reflecting on how often you should clean the inside of your barrel. Consider installing gutter guards or screens on the top of roof downspouts to prevent leaves, debris, and critters from entering your barrel.

    How to clean the barrel:

    1. Drain barrel
    2. Disconnect the barrel from your downspout.
    3. Flip barrel over and drain any remaining stagnant water.
    4. Remove any sediment or foreign materials from the barrel. A long-handled brush or coat hanger works well for this.
    5. Clean out the barrel’s interior. There are lots of cleaning solution options out there, so feel free to research what suits your needs best.
      1. Here is one recipe: Use 2 tsp. of Hydrogen Peroxide, 2 tsp. of vinegar, and 2 tsp. of Dawn detergent per gallon of water. Pour the solution into barrel and secure the bung caps. Coat the inside walls by rolling the barrel back and forth on its side. Let stand for a few minutes, remove the bung caps, then rinse it out.

    Once the barrel is clean, store upside down ideally indoors or outside with a tarp cover.

  • Before temperatures drop to freezing each year, you’ll need to disconnect and store your barrel for the winter. This can be done in the following steps:

    1. Drain your barrel. This is to prevent any water left in the barrel from expanding and potentially cracking and damaging the barrel.
    2. Disconnect the FlexiFit Diverter and fill the hose, then screw in the winter hole cover in your downspout. To keep track of the winter hole cover in the summer months, you could tie the hole cover to your fill hose so you don’t lose it!
    3. Take the opportunity to clean your gutters and the inside of the rain barrel. See the next question for a cleaning guide.
    4. Turn the barrel upside down to prevent water accumulation and store inside if possible. If the barrel must be stored outside, remove the hose parts and cover it with a tarp for the winter to prevent damage.
  • Although rainwater is natural, it’s not safe to drink without filtering or treating. This is because the collected water is picking up all the bird droppings, dead bugs, debris particulates, and any pollution from the atmosphere and from your roof. For this same reason, plants love the slightly acidic rainwater that aids the provision of nutrients to plants more effectively than mineral-laden tap water.

    • When watering a vegetable garden, it’s important to water at the ground level rather than on the plant itself to avoid accidentally ingesting the rainwater once the vegetables have been harvested.
    • You can also use collected rainwater to water the lawn, but we’d recommend you increase your storage capacity before attempting to water your entire lawn with just 55 gallons of water. Keep in mind that the higher elevation the barrel is above the watering point, the higher the water pressure will be and the easier it will be to water your plants.
    • Collected rainwater can be used to wash the car or siding of your home.
    • You could connect a hose to the spigot and divert the water to a rain garden to further decrease your water footprint.
  • Rain gardens, when planned and installed correctly, can be a very effective as well as visually appealing, stormwater management tool for homeowners. If you have noticed standing water on your lawn, detected soil erosion, or need to move stormwater away from your home’s foundation, a rain garden may be right for you. Rain gardens help to manage the stormwater that falls on your property thereby preventing it from entering and overwhelming the storm sewer system. They collect and hold rainwater for a brief time (less than 48 hours) slowly releasing it through the soil or allowing plants to soak it up.

    Determining the location, size, and slope of your rain garden are all keys to the success of this green solution.  Most rain gardens are between four and eight inches deep in order to provide enough capacity to handle the average rainfall. If the rain garden is too shallow, it needs to be very large and if it’s too deep, it might take too long to drain and result in standing water and mosquito breeding. According to the 2018 Red Lodge Stormwater PER, roughly 15% of the soil in Red Lodge has a slow or very slow infiltration rate. This means water has high runoff potential in these areas. If the soil in your backyard has a high clay content, you may need to add organic matter to the soil. This will improve drainage and will help to lighten the clay to make it better for planting.

    Rain gardens can be very low maintenance, but very visually appealing.

    Choose flowers, shrubs, and trees native to our region. These plants can tolerate short intervals of standing water or drought, have deep roots that let the water soak into the soil, and don’t require fertilizers or other chemicals.

    Spring and fall are the best times to start your garden. In spring, the soil is easier to dig and the rainy weather means less initial watering. Perennials often do best when planted in fall when they have sent all of their energy to their roots for winter.

    Source: https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1218/ 

    For further reading, the Publications Available from the Bridger Plant Materials Center offers a wealth of information on native and pollinator-friendly plants that would be well suited for a rain garden in Red Lodge.

  • This depends on how much higher your barrel is than the point you’re watering. The higher the elevation, the greater the water pressure will be at its lowest point. Each foot in elevation change is equal to 0.433 PSI (pounds per square inch) of water pressure.

    So, if you place your barrel on a 3 ft. stand and your barrel is full, you will have 2.598 PSI of water pressure. To keep that level of pressure, the base of your barrel needs to be 2-3 ft higher than the highest point of your garden. Examples when using drip irrigation: If your plants are on the ground, your barrel should be elevated 2 ft. or more. If your plants are in a 1 ft. raised garden bed, your barrel should be elevated 3 ft. or more, 4 ft. or more with 2 ft. raised beds, and so on.

    A common base for barrels is cinderblocks and level concrete slabs, but you could also build a platform out of bricks or wood. Keep in mind that a full 55-gallon barrel will weigh nearly 500 pounds, so make sure the base is sturdy!

City Court

  • Sometimes you can pay money and not appear. The money you pay is called a bond. The court will forfeit your bond to pay the fines and fees. A bond forfeiture is a conviction. You have 90 days from the date of forfeiture to appear and contest your charges.

    If you don’t know the bond amount or if you have to come to court or call the Court.

  • In Person

    You may pay by cash, check or money order with the City Clerk.

    To pay by debit/credit card, you will need to visit the Court Clerk. If you pay by debit/credit card, you will be charged a convenience fee.

    By mail

    You may mail a check or money order for your payment to the court. Do NOT mail cash.

    Drop Box

    For After Hours Payments Put your check or money order in an envelope, seal it, and write Red Lodge City Court on the outside. The drop box is located at City Hall’s West Door on 11th Street.

    Online

    You may make an online payment for certain types of payments. You will be charged a convenience fee to use this service. You will need your date of birth, and your ticket or case number. If you do not know the ticket or case number, please call the court.

  • Most people ask for a lawyer the first time they see the judge.

    You must complete the public defender application.
    Be sure to sign, date, and return it to the address on the form.
    If jail is a possible penalty, the judge will appoint you an attorney.
    Once have been appointed an attorney, the Office of Public Defender must qualify you for their services.

  • If you don’t know your payment amount, call the court.

  • If you have a Montana driver’s license, call the Department of Motor Vehicles at (406) 444-3933. They can tell you all of the reasons why your license is suspended and when you are eligible for reinstatement. If a court suspended your license because of a failure to appear or comply, you must contact the individual court to find out what you need to do to get your license back.

  • The court uses a collection agency for past due accounts.

    Gila, LLC
    DBA Municipal Services Bureau
    PO Box 389
    Arcade, NY  14009    
    Toll Free: (800) 616-0166
    Phone: (512) 454-4757

  • Your lawyer is:

    Office of the State Public Defender - Region 9
    207 N. Broadway
    Billings, MT 59101

    (406) 256.6861

    You must immediately call the public defender.

    • Ask to talk to the person who handles the applications.
    • Ask “Do you have my application?”
    • Ask “Do you need anything else from me?”
    • In 10 days, you must give the public defender: A completed application.

    The other information they may need:

    • Be ready to give proof of your income, like paycheck stubs, bank statements, and tax returns. Or you can bring a letter from your employer, social security, or the welfare office.
    • Be ready to give proof of your expenses, like rent, insurance, utility bills, payments due to other courts, or medical bills.
    • Be ready to talk about other expenses, like gas for your car, food, child-care costs, or child-support.

    The public defender will review your application.

    • If you qualify, they will continue as your lawyer.
    • If you don’t qualify, they will stop being your lawyer.
    • They will tell you their decision.

     

  • Yes. You must complete a Motion to Review Public Defender Denial form and ask for a hearing. File your papers with the court.

    The judge will schedule a hearing.

    At your hearing, you can tell the judge why you can’t pay for a lawyer.

  • Write the name of the person whose account you are making a payment on the memo line. It is helpful to include the ticket or case number.

  • You can come on Wednesdays at 10:00 AM.

  • The court clerk’s office is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 08:00 AM to 05:00 PM.

  • If you qualify, the judge must give you a lawyer in any case where jail is a possible penalty.

  • Red Lodge City Court

    PO Box 9

    Red Lodge, MT 59068

  • Make your check out to Red Lodge City Court.

Dog Licensing

  • Visitors should be able to show evidence of their dog's immunizations records covering the period of their visit, however, they need not obtain a City registration certificate unless the dog will be kept in the City for longer than 30 days. 

  • Yes, tags must be worn at all times the dog is within the limits of the City of Red Lodge, unless on personal property.

  • Yes, service dogs do need to complete the registration process, however, there is no license fee charged for certified service dogs.

  • New arrivals to the City have 30 days in which to obtain their registration. 

  • Dog licenses are an annual license that shall run from January 1st to December 31st. There shall be no pro-rating of licensing fees.

  • Puppies must receive their first rabies vaccination and be registered by the age of 5 months. 

  • Unfortunately, tags are not transferrable to a different dog.

  • Should a tag be lost, damaged, or destroyed, the City Clerk may issue a replacement tag in accordance with the provisions of the Resolution of the City Council.

  • Due to the serious public health risk presented by the disease, proof of rabies vaccination is required per City Ordinance in order to license your dog. 

Resort Tax

  • The sale takes place where the good is located, therefore, if the good is located in Red Lodge prior to shipping, tax would be collected.

  • The tax monies derived from the Resort Tax may be appropriated by the City Council only for those activities, in those proportions, set forth below:

    A. Property tax reduction for taxpayers of the City in an amount equal to five percent (5%) of the three percent (3%) Resort Tax revenues derived during the preceding fiscal year.

    B. Ninety-five percent (95%) of the three percent (3%) resort tax revenue must be utilized for capital improvements to streets, alleys, water, sewer, stormwater, emergency services, trails, parks, recreational facilities, city beautification, debt repayment and operational and maintenance cost related to streets, alleys, urban forestry, trails, parks, recreational facilities and city beautification expenditures.

    C. The 1% (one percent) resort tax shall only be utilized on the infrastructure projects related to stormwater and stormwater related improvements including, but not limited to, stormwater pipes, stormwater detention, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and streets related to stormwater projects.
     

    You can find current and detailed Resort Tax Budget information here: Budget

  • Resort Communities are afforded the ability to collect a special tax called Resort Tax through the approval of the electors.

    A "Resort community" means a community that:

    (a) is an incorporated municipality;

    (b) has a population of less than 5,500 according to the most recent federal census;

    (c) derives the primary portion of its economic well-being related to current employment from businesses catering to the recreational and personal needs of persons traveling to or through the municipality for purposes not related to their income production; and

    (d) has been designated by the department of commerce as a resort community.

     

  • Effective May 2, 2019, the Montana Legislature enacted SB 241 which allowed for resort communities, through election petition or resolution pursuant to §§ 7-6-1501 , et seq., an additional one percent (1 %) resort tax to provide funding for infrastructure. 

    On June 2, 2020, the electorate overwhelmingly renewed the three percent (3%) resort tax and the levy of an additional one percent (1%) resort tax dedicated solely to infrastructure.

    The one percent (1%) resort tax shall only be utilized on the infrastructure projects related to stormwater and stormwater related improvements including, but not limited to, stormwater pipes, stormwater detention, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and streets related to stormwater projects.

  • The City currently collects a 4% resort tax. The three percent (3%) Resort Tax, as approved by the voters, took effect on July 9, 2020 and the one percent (1%) infrastructure resort tax took effect thirty-five (35) days after approval of the electors, which was July 7, 2020

  • The resort tax is a tax on the retail value of all goods and services sold, except for goods and services sold for resale, within the resort community or area by the following establishments:

    1. hotels, motels, and other lodging or camping facilities;
    2. restaurants, fast food stores, and other food service establishments;
    3. taverns, bars, night clubs, lounges, and other public establishments that serve beer, wine, liquor, or other alcoholic beverages by the drink; and
    4. destination ski resorts and other destination recreational facilities.
    5. Establishments that sell luxuries shall collect a tax on such luxuries*.

    *"Luxuries" means any gift item, luxury item, or other item normally sold to the public or to transient visitors or tourists. The term does not include food purchased unprepared or unserved, medicine, medical supplies and services, appliances, hardware supplies and tools, or any necessities of life.

Search Tips and Tricks

  • Yes.  The website indexes web pages as well as PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, and text documents.

  • No.  By default, the search results will show matches for any word within the phrase.  In this example, you would receive results for all web pages and documents that contained either the word alarm or the word permit or both.

    In order to search on an exact phrase, enclose your search phrase in quotations.  The search results for "alarm permit" will show matches for that exact phrase.

  • Yes.   You can exclude words by using the minus sign (-).   In order to find the results of all pages that have alarm in the result but not permit, you would search for alarm -permit.