Nearing halfway point
On a frigid Helena morning, somewhere south of minus 20 degrees, a bus load of residents from Ennis were dropped off at the Capitol.
Tired looking residents, shuffled through the hallways, here to air their grievances. Ennis, a bucolic town, situated in on the Madison River, is best known as a fly-fishing mecca. It also offers low property taxes and a locally owned community hospital with ample reserves.
How can this be, you may wonder? Ennis’s noticeable taxable wealth derives mainly from the expanse of highly valued properties in Big Sky. Long ago, before Chet Huntley developed the resort, there was little taxable value from that portion of the mountainous, eastern portion of Madison County. Now, 50 years later, the unincorporated community of Big Sky is grappling with the issues of affordable housing, and a health care facility on the Gallatin county side.
The assumption is wrongly postulated that Big Sky is exclusively home to the ultra-wealthy of the likes of the Yellowstone Club.
It takes a village and in this case the village includes many hundreds of “regular people,” those who might be considered the engine of the Big Sky community.
Residents would soon flood the undersized hearing room for the Senate Tax Committee and spill out to a lobby area on the fourth floor of the capitol. Ennis residents, with an attorney at hand, stood among Big Sky residents, and most predictable, an opposing attorney at hand.
Big Sky residents lamented that for the most part, the services they fund are logistically difficult to access. Jack Creek Road, the lone road leading from Big Sky to the Madison Valley is partially privatized with a fee attached to usership. It is a well maintained but narrow and twisty, perhaps not the ideal commute for work or access to essential services.
One halves solution to the problem is provided within Senate Bill (SB) 260. The bill would make it easy for petitioners to withdraw from special districts and re-align the school district. The attorneys representing the two halves along with the Montana School Boards Association are busily amending the bill and removing constitutional barriers regarding voter participation and debt transfer.
Often times, the Legislature finds itself trying to resolve a local issue that has encountered an insurmountable road block. We legislators prefer not to referee such issues. On an evening following the impassioned hearing, I sat with an attorney and two Ennis residents including the CEO of the Madison Valley Medical Center at a Helena watering hole. I’m entering the “arbitration” suggesting that perhaps an olive branch to the other side might include the lowering the mills attached to the hospital district.
I have met with the other side (The folks from Big Sky), along with the sponsor of SB 260. They assure me that the issue for them is representation and the challenge of dealing with an outdated boundary lines that leaves residents underserved and excluded from decision that impact them.
Meanwhile, at the hearing, working class Ennis folks testified that low school taxes and a sizeable surplus in the hospital treasury allow for affordable living in an area that have pushed them to the margins.
Two compelling takes on the issue.
Perhaps someday, Jack Creek Road will be a public road. Imagine a state secondary road that bridges the past to the future. There are unintended consequences to many actions. Shangri La no more, but who’s Shangri La?
In the next post I’ll explore issues that impact residents in Senate District 2 . What has happened with property tax bills? Who benefits most from the top marginal income tax rate and is it fairly apportioned? What efforts are being made to address the high cost of housing?
Will teacher’s starting pay see an increase?
We approach the half way point, the time of transmittal when general non-revenue bill need to get to the other side. I look forward to a break.
Dave Fern
Senate District 2
Columbia Falls and Whitefish