If residents sign and voters approve, ‘life-changing’ dollars could support Big Sky health, wellness providers
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
For the Gallatin County side of Big Sky to create its half of the envisioned Big Sky Wellness District, 300 signatures are needed by Dec. 6 to ensure local voters can decide on the proposed district in May 2026.
In a recent Community Week update discussing the wellness district effort, leaders announced that since launching in August, the tally of valid signatures had reached 220.
One month later, the petition now has 283 signatures of qualified Gallatin County residents.
“So, we are really, really, really close,” Jackie Haines, director of economic and strategic development for the Big Sky Resort Area District, said during the Nov. 13 BSRAD board meeting.
On the Madison County side, the process was one step ahead as agreements under Senate Bill 260 paved the way for the original 2023 petition to be accepted—on Oct. 14, the Madison County Commission voted 2-0 to ratify the petition, with Big Sky’s representative Bill Todd abstaining to vote.
Big Sky’s Madison County voters should expect to see the issue on their May 2026 ballot.
If the Gallatin side completes its petition and local voters in both counties approve, the Big Sky Wellness District will be formed separately in both counties, with plans to eventually join through an interlocal agreement.
Upwards of $20 million by 2033
If Madison County voters approve, the Madison Valley Hospital District would then begin an eight-year process of gradually transitioning Big Sky tax collections to the newly created Big Sky district, as agreed upon in SB 260 negotiations.
In the first year, Haines estimates Big Sky would receive over $1 million in its own taxpayer dollars, totaling over $20 million by the end of the eight-year period. After that, the entirety of annual hospital district tax revenue would continue to remain in Big Sky.
“Not pennies at all,” Haines said. “Like, I think, a really life-changing amount of [dollars].”
Next week, Haines and other Resort Tax representatives will meet with health and wellness providers to begin planning voter education—the “simple majority” of voters still must say “yes,” and residents can expect to hear encouragement in the months leading up to May 2026.
Both sides of the district would need to fill a board of residents. Haines encouraged community members to reach out to her with interest in potentially serving.
