Whats New on Highway 2

Havre Area Community Profile

Welcome to Havre, the North Star of Montana!

Economic Development for Havre, Montana  Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, 518 First Street, Havre, Montana  59501  Phone (406) 265– 4383  E-mail:  chamber@havremt.net  Web:  www.havremt.com 

Contents:

Education

Havre Public Schools 

Havre Public Schools presently has three elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, and an alternative high school located in six different sites.  The administration building houses the central administration offices for business, personnel, and special education, Community Education Office, district print shop, and district receiving.  A separate facility also exists to house transportation services, maintenance services, and cold storage.

Havre Public Schools, with 127 certified staff members and 150 support staff, helps approximately 2000 children and young adults achieve their greatest potential.  

The majority of the teachers have over 10 years of teaching experience and approximately 60% have Master’s degrees.  The school district promotes continuing education for the staff. Many have produced award winning programs that they've shared with educators in and outside out of district.

Student activities include sports from grades 3-12; academic honors programs; speech, debate, and journalism; band and vocal music; vocational education; languages; and service and leadership activities.

St. Jude Thaddeus School

St.Jude Thaddeus School has been providing Catholic education in Havre, MT for 85 years. It is a parochial school serving grades preschool through grade eight. The new millennium finds lay teachers educating the students in the school. All of the teachers are MONTANA CERTIFIED. The total enrollment remains approximately 225 students. It has remained relatively stable over the last five years. The pupils attend school 180 days each school year from 8:20-3:15 each day. St.Jude School works in close cooperation with the Havre Public School system in providing federally funded services. These services include testing and evaluation for special education services. St.Jude Thaddeus School intends to fulfill the goal of Catholic education by helping all children reach their full potential intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

Montana State University-Northern

For over 75 years MSU-N has offered north central Montana associate, baccalaureate, and master's level programs. MSU-N has distance education centers in Great Falls and Lewistown along with an extensive interactive distance network that serves 57 sites across Montana. MSU-Northern's size enables it to provide their students with personal attention while offering an unusually broad range of aca­demic and technical programs. Whatever your career goals are, you will find options at MSU-N that are linked to your interests. For more information on how you can get an affordable, quality education from MSU-N call 1-800-622-6132.    www.msun.edu

• Main Campus—Havre with branch education centers in Great Falls and Lewistown, Montana; and more than 50 distance Education Sites.

• Founded:  1929

• Calendar:  Semester

• Programs:  2 year, 4 year, Master’s

• Degrees:  A.A.S., A.S., A..A., A.D.N., B.A.S., B.S., B.A., M.E., M.S.E.

• Majors:  More than 50 in arts and sciences, agriculture, business, engineering technology, education and nursing. 

• Top five:  elementary education, nursing B.S., business, nursing A.D.N., diesel technology

• Enrollment: 1,640

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Northern Montana Health Care (www.nmhcare.org)

Havre is a regional medical center, serving a five-county area with a comprehensive range of health care services.

Northern Montana Hospital, is a fully integrated healthcare system with adult and pediatric services. Among the specialty services offered are Magnetic Resonance Imaging and CT Scanning, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation services and wellness programs, a modern labor/delivery/recovery Post-partum unit, renal dialysis, home health care, hospice, a sleep disorder center, and emergency services.

The hospital is non-profit, governed by a volunteer board of trustees. Northern Montana Health Care is one of the largest employers in Havre, with about 600 staff members.

Constructed through a vigorous community effort in 1974, the hospital today is the center of the healthcare delivery system. Mental health treatment is provided at Northern Montana Behavioral Health Services, which was opened in 1991 and is attached to the hospital

Many of the area’s physicians are members of Northern Montana Medical Group. Most of the multi-specialty group is housed on the NMH campus, in the clinic building to the west of the hospital and in the medical complex to the east of the hospital.  Northern Montana Pharmacy is conveniently located in Northern Montana Medical Group-West.

Also situation on the campus is Northern Montana Care Center, a long term care facility completed in 1997 with 150 private resident rooms. Within the Care Center are a wide range of services to meet the needs of our aging society, including an Assisted Living unit, Hospice rooms, and a 20-bed Special Care wing for residents with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

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Business Support Services

Bear Paw Development Corporation of Northern Montana

• 48 Second Avenue  ·  PO Box 170

• Havre, Montana 59501

• Phone: (406) 265-9226

• Fax: (406) 265-5602

• e-mail: ptuss@bearpaw.org 

• web: www.bearpaw.org 

  • Business Loans

  • Economic Development Resources

  • Community Development Resources

  • Value-Added Agriculture Assistance

  • Provide information and assistance to companies relocating and expanding to Havre and Hill County

Small Business Development Center

Bear Paw Development Corporation

• 48 Second Avenue  ·  PO Box 170  ·   

• Havre, Montana 59501

• Phone: (406) 265-9226

• Fax: (406) 265-5602

• e-mail: tjette@bearpaw.org 

• web: www.bearpaw.org 

  • Confidential Business Counseling

  • Business and Marketing Plan development and review

  • Business Library and Resources

Havre Job Service Workforce Center

• 160 First Avenue

• Havre, Montana 59501

• Phone: (406) 265-5847

• Fax: (406) 265-1386

• E-mail: havrejsc@mt.gov

• Connection point for employees and employer

  • Regional and statewide labor market statistics

• Web: http://wsd.dli.mt.gov/local/havre/ 

Havre Area Chamber of Commerce

• 518 First Street

• Havre, Montana 59501

• Phone: (406) 265-4383

• Fax: (406) 265-7748

• e-mail: chamber@havremt.net 

• web: www.havremt.com 

City of Havre

• 520 Fourth Street  PO Box 231

• Havre, MT 59501

• Phone: (406)265-6719

• Fax: (406)265-9459

• web: www.ci.havre.mt.us 

Hill County

• 315 Fourth Street

• Havre, MT 59501

• Phone: (406)265-5481

• Fax: (406)265-2445

• web: www.co.hill.mt.us 

 

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Recreation and Culture:

Ten miles south of Havre is Beaver Creek Park, the largest county park in the U.S. The park has fishing, camping, hiking, picnicking, and cross-country skiing. Bear Paw Ski Bowl is just outside the park.  Fishing, boating, water skiing, and swimming are popular at the 12-mile long Fresno Lake west of Havre.

Other recreation opportunities include a 9-hole golf course, a proposed 18-hole course, indoor swimming pools, trap and target shooting, hunting, and an indoor hockey rink. Nationally ranked MSU-Northern teams and high school teams provide sports entertainment.

The Hi-line Concert Association and the MSU-Northern Showcase along with a local theater group, the Montana Actors Theater, sponsor several performing arts presentations during the school year.  The local area is rich in historical resources including the Wahkpa Chu’gn buffalo jump, Fort Assinniboine, Havre Beneath the Streets, and the Clack Museum. 

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Topography and Climate

The geographical region of Havre and Hill County is predominately semi-arid.

Average temperature in the summer is 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The winter's average temperature is 13.9 degrees Fahrenheit. The average annual precipitation is 12 inches.

Elevation of Havre at the airport is 2,589 feet.

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Havre's Largest Employers 

April, 2005

Northern Montana Health Care	609
Burlington Northern/Sante Fe Railroad	578
Havre Public Schools	292
Montana State University-Northern	260
Hill County	165
Hill County Electric/Triangle Telephone	126
City of Havre	111
Gary & Leo’s IGA	105
Duck Inn, Inc.	94
Kmart	88
District IV HRDC	86

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Utilities and Local Services

Water and Sewer

The water plant is being expanded from a 4˝ million capacity to 6 million.  Water rates for a one-inch meter are $18.64, which includes the first 4,000 gallons with a $2.15 charge per thousand for each additional thousand gallons. 

The rate for sewer for buildings with a one-inch water meter is $13.01 a month which includes the first 3,000 gallons. A yearly average of gallons used is established based on the winter months. $1.79 is charged for each additional thousand gallons.  An updating of the sewage treatment process was completed in 1999.

Telecommunications

Qwest serves the immediate Havre area and has electronic switching.  Digital service is available on copper.  Fiber optic cable can be placed when requested. 

Triangle Telephone provides digital fiber network service in Hill County and surrounding counties with an OC-48 fiber backbone.  An OC-48 is enough bandwidth to carry 1344 T-l’s. Triangle provides Internet access with V.90 modem support up to 56 Kbsp.  Commercial Web page account options are available.  Several other local companies also provide Internet access.  

Triangle has Vision Net that provides video-conferencing.  Vision Net also provides ATM (asynchronous transfer mode).  This allows a network to efficiently transport video, voice, and data and allows enhanced features such as encryption, wide area Ethernet connectivity, and scalable bandwidth.  Several other local companies also provide Internet access.

Gas and Electric

NorthWestern Energy KW capacity is 42,125 and KW peak demand is 23,314.  They provide natural gas service.  The BTU per cubic feet is 930,000 and unlimited for expansion. Current NorthWestern Energy rates are available on the Internet at www.northwesternonline.com . 

Hill County Electric Cooperative rates for rural Hill County are 5.75 cents per kWh for small commercial customers and 4 cents a kWh plus $9.50 per highest kW demand each month for large commercial customers.  KW capacity is 74 MKW HRS and KW peak is 13,529.  Hill County Electric will build to provide service to whatever service capacity is needed.

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Transportation

Havre is located at the junction of US Highways 2 and 87, 43 miles south of the Canadian border in North Central Montana.

Airports

• Havre City/County Airport is served by Big Sky Airlines. Flights run daily to Lewistown and Billings, with connections in Billings to most major carriers. The Big Sky website can be accessed at www.bigsky.com 

• Private and corporate planes also use the facility.

Air Freight and Package Express Service

• Havre and the Hill County area are served by Federal Express, RPS, United parcel Service, and US Postal Service Express Mail.

Motor Freight

• There is motor freight access in and out of Havre. We also have three large freight exchange connections: Billings, 250 miles south of Havre; Great Falls, 110 miles south of Havre; and Shelby, 100 miles west of Havre.

• US Highway 2, which runs through Havre, is the most direct northern connection between Chicago and Seattle.

Rail Service

• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad provides the fastest, most direct rail service between Chicago and Seattle for shipping to any market in North America.

• Amtrak provides daily passenger rail service for all of Northern Montana to metro areas east and west from the Havre depot. Empire Builder passenger service is overnight to Chicago and Seattle. Amtrak also provides express rail fright service.

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Taxation

• General Sales Tax

  • None

• Inventory Tax

  • None

• Business Equipment Tax

  • Effective rate of 3%*

• Accommodation “Bed” Tax

  •   7% (4% facility use & 3% campground tax)

• Montana Corporate Income Tax

  •   6.75% of Net Income

• Montana Personal Income Tax (net effective rate)

  •   2% to 8%

• Property Tax (within Havre High School Dist. A)

  • (based on State classification percentage)

  • 1999-2000   522.94 mills

(*) Montana’s tax on personal property owned by businesses, often referred to as the “business equipment tax,” is the effective rate determined by the value, times the tax rate, times the mill.

Income
Per Capita Income
Hill County ('03)	$24,624
Montana ('03)	$25,406
National ('03)	$31,472
Average Annual Wage
Hill County ('04)	$20,163
Montana ('04)	$22,657
National ('03)	$34,065

Employment 2004
Civilian Labor Force (area)*
Employed	12,625
Unemployed	558
Unemployment Rate
Havre LFA	4.2%
Montana	4.4%
National	5.5%

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Banking & Valuations:

There are five bank systems and one credit union with locations in Havre and in Hill County.  Two are national banks, two are statewide banks and one bank is locally owned with branches in Northeast Montana.

Real Estate valuations in Hill County for 2004 total $26,716,179 and the City of Havre valuations for 2005 total $7,735,992.

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Housing:

Havre enjoys a variety of housing which is affordable, attractive, and accessible. The city is separated into a number of well kept, pleasant neighborhoods offering housing in a broad range of style and price. Of the 5,377 units in the city’s housing stock, 8% have been built since 1990.  37% were built in the 1980's and 70's, and 55% were built prior to 1970. The average price of homes on the market in March 2005 was $99,618. The average rent for a three bedroom, two bath home is $600.

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Media:

Print

One daily newspaper is published in Hill County.  The Havre Daily News offers daily coverage of local, state and national news. Several regional and national newspapers are available as well.

Radio www.kojm.com

Hill County has two public and three commercial radio stations that broadcast throughout North-central Montana. A Christian station broadcasts state-wide with no commercial interruptions. Each station offers local, state and national news. Three stations provide extensive coverage of area high school and college sporting events. The stations offer Christian, classical, jazz, county, adult contemporary, and light rock music programming.

Television

Three area TV stations affiliated with national networks and one cable company serve Havre and Hill County.  NBC has a local studio housed at MSU-N.