Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

Brooke Stroyke, Office of the Governor

HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today announced that Senator Ryan Osmundson (R-Buffalo) will succeed Kurt Alme in leading the governor’s budget office.

Alme will transition out of his role as budget director on October 1 to return to his family and home in Billings.

“A brilliant and dedicated public servant, Kurt has been instrumental to our early success in leading the Montana comeback,” Gov. Gianforte said. “While I’ll sorely miss Kurt’s leadership and counsel, family has to come first, and I understand and respect his decision. We are grateful for his around-the-clock service to the people of Montana.”

Since December 2020, Alme has helped advance some of the governor’s top priorities, including making a historic investment in substance abuse prevention and treatment; providing incentives to increase starting teacher pay; prioritizing trades education; simplifying Montana’s complex tax code; and assembling a fiscally conservative, balanced, and sound budget.

“I am very grateful to the governor for this opportunity to work with him to help enact a fiscally responsible budget, put Montana in its strongest financial position in history, enact over $60 million of tax reductions annually to make our state more competitive, and make investments of federal COVID funds in infrastructure and people that will pay dividends for years to come,” Alme said.

“I enjoyed working with the governor, the great team he assembled, and our dedicated state workers, but commuting from Billings to Helena each week is unworkable for the long term,” Alme continued. “I’ll look forward to regularly having dinner with my wife and family and sleeping in my own bed again. I want to thank Governor Gianforte, Lt. Governor Juras, the legislators, the budget office team, and all the talented people I had the pleasure to work with for making this time so rewarding.”

The governor tapped Sen. Ryan Osmundson, a farmer and rancher from Buffalo and chair of the Legislative Finance Committee, to succeed Director Alme.

“With a decade of experience shaping state budgets in the Montana Legislature, Ryan has earned a reputation as a strong fiscal conservative,” Gov. Gianforte said. “Ryan will bring his years of experience and leadership to build upon Kurt’s work, developing a fiscally conservative budget while preserving essential services and ensuring Montanans keep more of what they earn.”

First elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 2010, Osmundson served on the Appropriations Committee for three consecutive terms, including as vice chair for the 2015 biennium.

Elected to the Montana State Senate in 2016, Osmundson has served as chair of the Finance and Claims Committee for both the 2019 and 2021 biennia and serves as chair of the Legislative Finance Committee.

“It’s an honor and privilege to join Governor Gianforte’s team as budget director,” Sen. Osmundson said. “I look forward to working with the talented team at the budget office to ensure we’re good stewards of taxpayer money and continue the governor’s efforts to bring greater fiscal discipline to state government.”

Husband to Jessica and father to ten children, Ryan and his family farm and ranch near Buffalo.