Public meetings explain timeliness for new funding tool, collect letters of support
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
Just over 40 people listened to a presentation at the Big Sky Center for the Arts in Town Center on the morning of Aug. 27. Jackie Haines, economic and strategic development director with Big Sky Resort Area District shared what a Targeted Economic Development District could do for Big Sky.
“This tool will enable us to invest in infrastructure that will help to set up the next 50 years in Big Sky,” Haines said.
The Aug. 27 event was the second of two events hosted by leaders of Big Sky organizations and aimed at educating the community about a funding mechanism that can devote local taxes more directly to Big Sky infrastructure. The meetings are happening before a TEDD and tax increment financing, or TIF, discussion is expected for the October joint county commission meeting between Madison and Gallatin counties and Big Sky.
TIFs are used throughout the state, including in Bozeman, where six urban renewal districts generate revenue from rising property values and taxes. Big Sky would employ a TEDD, which is used for areas that need infrastructure improvements, instead of an urban renewal district. Leaders proposed a TEDD/TIF in Big Sky last year, focusing on the canyon sewer project, but the Gallatin County Commission did not approve it. In an October 2025 joint county commission meeting, commissioner Zach Brown described concern about the backlash and consequences of the tool after rapid development in Bozeman’s TIF areas.
Big Sky leaders have since clarified how a TEDD/TIF could be used locally, narrowing its purpose to transportation, water and wildfire infrastructure funding. This trio comes from Big Sky’s relationship with an impaired Gallatin River, and the community’s major sewer projects; local and regional roadways that need significant maintenance and funding for improvement projects; and the high risk of wildfire in the area.
BSRAD Executive Director Daniel Bierschwale noted in the meeting that they’ve explored other options for funding infrastructure improvements.
“This appears to be our path forward,” Bierschwale said about TEDD/TIF. In an interview with Explore Big Sky, he explained that projects like the canyon sewer won’t be possible without more money from a new source.
“What’s known is we actually have projects that simply will not happen without another funding source. And that didn’t exist previously,” Bierschwale said. Whether or not the long-researched and planned centralized canyon sewer project is a go must be decided by early 2027.
Bierschwale understands that it will take some time for residents to learn about how the TEDD/TIF works.
“I think there’s an awareness around, [that] this is somewhat of a complicated thing,” Bierschwale said. He hopes that residents understand where some of the revenue can come from. In an email statement, he described how state funds could support a TEDD.
“Many of the mills on the typical Big Sky property tax bill are generated from state programs. Some of those mills qualify for the TEDD and if included that reinvestment into Big Sky could be significant,” he stated.
A TEDD/TIF in Big Sky would last for 15 years. The Montana Department of Revenue describes how a TIF functions.
“It works by separating taxable value into base and increment values, so that revenue from the base value continues to go to the regular taxing jurisdiction, but as taxes increase over the years, that growth—the increment—goes to the TIF to pay for development activities within the TIF district,” MDR’s website states.
In the meeting, Haines noted that a third party estimate revealed that revenues from a 15-year Big Sky TEDD/TIF could reach around $100 million total, with the potential for the TIFs—separated by Big Sky’s two home counties—to accrue $60 million on the Gallatin and $40 million on the Madison side. Not only could this directly fund projects, but it could also be used to earn more grants for infrastructure projects, Dylan Pipinich, land planner at WGM Group, explained during the Aug. 27 event’s Q&A.
“It’s a great way to be able to get some money to leverage in other forms and fashions, whether it’s grants or other types of investments,” Pipinich said.
Tourism-based economies must look outside the box, chamber CEO says
Tourism is the main industry in Big Sky, Brad Niva, CEO of Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, told EBS. After the West’s warm winter, Niva has met with other towns that thrive during the ski season, and found they shared similar worries about ways a bad winter could impact business.
“I think it’s a big wake-up call for all of us,” Niva said. Resort tax is dependent on how much money locals and visitors spend in the Big Sky economy, and BSRAD noted several times during the meeting that they were maxed out in their support for costly infrastructure projects.
“I mean, in theory, as ski destinations, we got to think outside the box, and I think the TEDD/TIF opens up the doors,” Niva said. Niva listed water as one of the biggest infrastructure issues Big Sky must deal with soon, including storage of treated wastewater.
“I think right now we’re not really thinking about pure growth of new homes and new buildings and new hotels,” Niva said. “I think we’re looking at where we are today and how do we have a good foundation so that the community can grow properly over time.”
Attendees at the event were invited to write letters of support for TEDD/TIF based on their transportation, housing, wildfire resilience and water needs. The chamber explained that Big Sky employees who don’t reside in Big Sky can also share their support, as they interact with infrastructure in Big Sky.
County commissioners must approve TEDD/TIF districts. The letters will be submitted to county commissioners ahead of the Oct. 7 joint county commission meetings, where proponents hope to see public commenters voice their thoughts on a Big Sky TEDD/TIF.
