Gallatin County petitioners must sign to create wellness district by early December
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
Months after many Big Sky residents celebrated the passage of Senate Bill 260, essential work remains to actually create a hospital or “wellness” district, the planned—and legally required—next step after Big Sky’s withdrawal from the Madison Valley Hospital District.
“This is a massive effort, and will require a lot of help from our community,” said Sarah Blechta, Big Sky Resort Area District board chair during the Aug. 13 board meeting. “A lot was done with SB 260… we have a lot to do to keep this train on the tracks.”
SB 260 created a new withdrawal process that allows petitioners to vote themselves out of certain special districts. Previously, approval to withdraw was required from county commissions. Under an agreement made in the recent legislative process, Big Sky taxpayers will gradually contribute less to MVHD each year over an eight-year reconciliation period as they withdraw from MVHD.
On the Gallatin County side of Big Sky, at least 30% of qualified signors will need sign a similar petition before Dec. 8—not to withdraw from any pre-existing district, but simply to start the process of creating a Big Sky Wellness District.
The goal of the wellness district is to improve Big Sky’s capacity to fund local health care and wellness services, many of which have not been able to keep up with Big Sky’s population growth, especially in the past 10 to 15 years, according to a document shared by the Big Sky Wellness District Coalition. Service providers that could receive district funding include Bozeman Health Big Sky Medical Center, Big Sky Community Food Bank, Wellness in Action, Big Sky Fire Department (ambulance) and Be Well Big Sky; eligible services include hospital inpatient and emergency care, primary care, behavioral health, substance abuse care, counseling and other social wellness services.
Gallatin County petition details
To create a hospital district in Gallatin County, qualified petitioners must be registered voters and property owning individuals—renters cannot sign—within the Big Sky Resort Area District boundary and Gallatin County. The petition must be signed in person. Community members interested in signing can reach out to Resort Tax or the wellness coalition, or sign in person at local events including the Big Sky Farmers Market and Big Sky Community Week.
If Gallatin County is successful, registered Big Sky voters in both counties will see the issue on their May 2026 ballot. If unsuccessful, Madison County residents will still vote on the initiative, and Gallatin County residents would need to restart the petition again ahead of the 2027 election.
As currently designed, the Big Sky Wellness District would be created separately in both counties, although BSRAD officials expect the pair would cooperate through an interlocal agreement similar to the Big Sky Trails, Recreation and Parks District. Eventually, it would be possible for the districts to merge.
“There is a legal process and an annexation process—one has to annex into another and you basically blend them. That was a big step to try and do at the front end,” Kim Beatty, BSRAD attorney, explained at the BSRAD board meeting. “… The concept is, once the two hospital districts are set up and approved, they will work together to ensure that health and wellness issues in Big Sky are addressed and funded.”
Each county will need to find a three- or five-member board of trustees, responsible for allocating tax collections to service providers across the community with respect to community feedback.
“We are working on gathering signatures for the petition… We’re still waiting to find out the final numbers, in terms of how many people we need for the petition,” Beatty said.
“This is a massive effort, and will require a lot of help from our community. A lot was done with SB 260… we have a lot to do to keep this train on the tracks.”
Sarah Blechta, BSRAD board chair
Beatty explained that although SB 260 was negotiated between interested parties, the Madison County Commission chose to abstain because “they didn’t want to be an active participant in how the bill would look.” Now, BSRAD is “working with all parties in Madison County” including Madison County Commissioners regarding the terms of the withdrawal from MVHD and the creation of the wellness district, according to a follow up email from BSRAD to EBS.
“We’re waiting for them to join with us, so that we can file one joint motion with the court that then would allow us to take the next step,” Beatty told the board. “So people who are thinking that Senate Bill 260 kind of resolves everything and there’s nothing left to do in Madison County—that’s not true, we do still have a few more steps.”
If legal proceedings are successful to get the issue on May 2026 ballots and Big Sky’s Madison County voters choose to create the new hospital district, the district would begin receiving tax dollars in November 2026.
The same could be true for Gallatin County if a complete petition is filed and voters say “yes” to the wellness district.
In terms of property taxes, Madison County residents may see their mills decrease as soon as 2026, and Gallatin County residents may or may not see a slight increase depending on the actions of its elected board, according to the wellness coalition.
Information was added after this story was published to inform citizens on how to sign the Gallatin County petition.
