City of Havre Public Works Department

City of Havre, Montana

city

520 4th Street, Havre, MT 59501

Required

Required

THE 2021 IRC AS AMENDED BY THE STATE, AND HAVRE TRACKS IT BY A FLOATING CLAUSE OF ITS OWN. City Code 4-1-1(A), BUILDING CODE ADOPTED (Ord. 852, 2006), reads: "The city adopts by public ordinance the current edition of the building code and all accompanying appendices, amendments and modifications as adopted by the building codes bureau, Montana department of labor and industry applicable to local government jurisdictions, subsequent editions of building codes may be adopted by administrative action as authorized by Montana Code Annotated section 50-60-301(1)(b)." City Code 4-1-17, EFFECTIVE DATES OF FUTURE ADOPTIONS, then makes that a rolling adoption: "Any codes or amendments adopted by the building codes bureau... shall become effective in the city upon order of the mayor within ninety (90) days after the date that the bureau notifies the city of said amendments." The state's current residential edition, per the Building Codes Bureau's own rule (ARM 24.301.154, last amended effective 9/21/2024), is the International Residential Code, 2021 Edition, together with Appendices Q, S and F, adopted with Chapters 11 through 43 deleted and the state's own amendments substituted, effective statewide June 11, 2022. So Havre names no edition of its own and does not need to; it takes whatever edition the Bureau currently publishes. THE APPLICABILITY CLAUSE THAT MAKES THIS REACH A HOUSE AT ALL. Montana's state building code does not, by itself, apply to "residential buildings containing less than five (5) dwelling units" unless "the local legislative body by ordinance or resolution makes the state building code applicable to these structures" (MCA 50-60-102(1)(a)). Havre has done exactly that. City Code 4-1-15, APPLICABILITY (Ord. 835, 1999), reads: "The technical codes and standards adopted by reference in this chapter are applicable to all buildings within the building code enforcement area of the city of Havre, Montana, including, without limitation, residential buildings containing less than five (5) dwelling units or their attached to structures, any farm or ranch building, and any private garage or private storage structure used only for the owner's own use as provided by section 50-6-102(1)(a), Montana Code Annotated." That text tracks MCA 50-60-102(1)(a)'s own exclusion list item by item. ⚠ The section as enacted cites "section 50-6-102(1)(a)"; the correct statutory citation is 50-60-102(1)(a) (Title 50, chapter 6 is Montana's emergency medical services chapter, not building codes). This record quotes the City's text as enacted and notes the evident scrivener's error rather than repairing it. TWO REPEALED SECTIONS THAT LOOK LIKE A RETREAT AND ARE NOT. City Code 4-1-2, HOUSING CODE ADOPTED, and 4-1-3, ONE AND TWO FAMILY DWELLING CODE ADOPTED, were both repealed by Ordinance 852 in 2006 -- the same ordinance that wrote the current floating 4-1-1(A). The repeal consolidated those separate adoptions into the single floating clause; it did not remove dwelling coverage, which 4-1-15 still carries. A separate section, 4-1-10, adopts the IECC "2003 edition" beside the floating building-code adoption; that is energy-code only and does not set the residential building code edition.

Required — A POINTER TO THE UNAMENDED BASE CODE, WHICH APPLIES WHEREVER HAVRE'S CODE REACHES A HOUSE. ARM 24.301.154, the state's residential amendment rule, was read in full and makes zero amendments naming drip edge or Chapter 9 generally, so the base 2021 IRC's own drip-edge provision applies unmodified. Havre's own building chapter, read this session, states no drip-edge rule of its own, and could not lawfully impose one stricter than the state's: MCA 50-60-301(2)(a) bars a more-stringent local building code. Havre's 4-1-15 applicability clause extends the code to "residential buildings containing less than five (5) dwelling units," so this reaches an ordinary house reroof in the city. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED STATEWIDE BY THE STATE'S OWN AMENDMENT, WITH NO LOCAL-HAZARD FINDING NEEDED. ARM 24.301.154(23), in its entirety: "Subsection R 905.1.2 is amended by deletion of the language 'areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2' and insert 'the State of Montana.'" The model code's geographic ice-damming trigger is replaced with the whole state, so wherever the state-amended residential code reaches a house, the ice-barrier underlayment requirement at R905.1.2 applies regardless of any local finding. Havre's 4-1-15 applicability clause extends the code, including this amendment, to "residential buildings containing less than five (5) dwelling units." Havre's own building chapter states no contrary rule. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE STATE'S OWN INSTRUMENT, AND A HAVRE ORDINANCE COULD NOT LAWFULLY ADD ONE. The state's residential amendment rule, ARM 24.301.154, was read in full (25 subsections) and contains zero occurrences of "UL 2218," "Class 4," "Class IV," "impact" or "hail"; the same is true across the state's companion IBC, IECC and wildland-urban-interface amendment rules. MCA 50-60-301(2)(a) separately bars any city, county or town from adopting or enforcing a building code "more stringent than the building code adopted by the department," which forecloses a Havre ordinance from adding an impact-resistance requirement even if one were contemplated. The sections of Havre's own building chapter read this session name no impact, hail or UL 2218 requirement. An insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle is a private contract term, not a code mandate.

NO LOCAL ROOF-COVERING RULE OF ITS OWN, AND THE STATE'S OWN AMENDMENT RULE TOUCHES NOTHING IN THE REROOFING SECTION. The sections of Havre's building chapter read this session -- 4-1-1 (adoption), 4-1-15 (applicability), 4-1-17 (future adoptions), 4-1-14 (fees), and the repealed 4-1-2, 4-1-3 and 4-1-4 -- state no layer count, no tear-off trigger and no roof-covering provision of their own; the chapter's operative content is the floating adoption of whatever the state currently publishes. The state's own amendment rule for the residential code, ARM 24.301.154, was read in full this session and amends nothing at IRC Chapter 9 or Section R908. Beyond that, Montana bars the question from being answered locally in either direction: MCA 50-60-301(2)(a) prohibits a city, county or town from adopting or enforcing "a building code that is more stringent than the building code adopted by the department," and ARM 24.301.202(1) compels any certified jurisdiction to conform to a department code change within 90 days of notice, with ARM 24.301.202(3) barring "discretionary provisions... not mandated by the department" from local adoption by administrative action. The only local variance route, IRC appendices, is limited by ARM 24.301.154(24) to Appendices Q, S and F, none of which reaches roof coverings. This record does not restate the base 2021 IRC's own numeric layer rule; it states only that neither Havre nor the state has amended it, and that Havre could not lawfully have done so on its own.

NO LOCAL RULE, AND THE STATE'S OWN AMENDMENT RULE ADDS NOTHING TO ROOF SHEATHING. The sections of Havre's building chapter read this session name no deck or sheathing requirement of their own; the chapter's content is the floating adoption of the state's current code. ARM 24.301.154, the state's residential-code amendment rule, was read in full and contains zero occurrences of "sheathing" and zero occurrences of any IRC Chapter 8 section number, so the base 2021 IRC's roof sheathing provisions (Section R803) apply exactly as the model code publishes them wherever Havre's code reaches. As with the layer-limit field, Havre could not lawfully add a stricter local sheathing rule in any event: MCA 50-60-301(2)(a) bars a more-stringent local building code and ARM 24.301.202(1) compels conformity to the department's own code on a 90-day clock.

NONE. Montana has no general sales tax, and the state's own tax authority says so without qualification: the Montana Department of Revenue's "Sales Tax Guidance for Montana Business and Residents" states "Montana does not have a general-use sales tax" and adds that "Montana does not have a sales tax exemption certificate." A residential reroof performed in Havre carries no state or local sales tax on materials or labor. Two things exist beside it and neither reaches a reroof here. First, a local resort tax (MCA 7-6-1503, capped at 3%, statutorily reachable to 4% since Ch. 425, L. 2025) applies only in ten named Montana resort communities and only to lodging, food service, alcohol-serving and destination-recreation establishments and to "luxuries," a term the statute (MCA 7-6-1501(3)) expressly says excludes "hardware supplies and tools" and "necessities of life." Havre is not one of the ten listed communities (Red Lodge, Virginia City, West Yellowstone, Whitefish, Big Sky, Cooke City, Craig, Gardiner, St Regis, Wolf Creek), so this does not apply there in any event. Second, Montana levies a 1% Contractor's Gross Receipts Tax (MCA 15-50-205(1)), but only on "public contractors" whose public construction contract exceeds $80,000 (MCA 15-50-101(3)(a)), which does not reach an ordinary residential roofing job.