With amendments, SB 260 will be presented in Senate after well-attended committee hearing
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
Senate Bill 260 will be heard on the Montana Senate floor Friday, April 4 after passing through the Senate Taxation Committee with edits.
The amended bill allows residents within one district to withdraw if the services are inaccessible, and enter one with accessible services in a three-year financial step down. The bill now holds specific rules for school district payments and processes of withdrawal.
The bill was spurred by a portion of Big Sky residents’ attempts to withdraw from the Madison Valley Hospital District to join a potential Big Sky Wellness District. Between the two communities of Ennis and unincorporated Big Sky—which is predominantly in Gallatin County—is a private road through the Jack Creek Preserve, otherwise making access to hospital services an 85-mile haul.
Daniel Bierschwale, Big Sky Resort Area District executive director, and Jackie Haines, BSRAD director of economic and strategic development, provided comments via email about the changes to SB 260 ahead of the Friday Senate reading.
“The number one objection we have heard from the Madison County Commissioners in the hospital withdrawal process, has been that there’s a fiscal cliff if redistricting would occur,” the joint statement read. In the case that SB 260 passes—and a petition, public hearing and voter-approved withdrawal are successful—Big Sky resident tax dollars going to MVHD will gradually transition to the soon-to-be-formed Big Sky Wellness District over three years, according to an amendment to the bill.
“This amendment softens any financial negative impact that may occur if withdrawal happens,” Haines and Bierschwale stated.
As for any potential school district withdrawals, both Ennis and Big Sky school districts agreed on reconciliation payments for Big Sky properties in the Ennis School District and a similar three-year transition in taxable value from school districts, according to Haines and Bierschwale.
An amendment also calls for the establishment of an advisory council between the two districts if residents decide not to withdraw.
The advisory council would be established to create “open dialogue and collaboration” in the handlings of students attending a school outside of the district—in this case, Big Sky residents within Madison County and the Ennis School District who attend Big Sky schools.
“For those residents in the Big Sky community who have been on record saying that they are paying property taxes that they receive no benefit for, this solution addresses two of the long-standing boundary and taxing issues that Big Sky faces as it grows,” the BSRAD statement read.
Another change is the exclusion of corporate entities as qualified petitioners in withdrawal applications.
The Senate hearing is expected to begin at around 1 p.m. in Helena on April 4.
