Big Sky resident Mel Crichton was among about 40 residents gathered for an update on the Big Sky Governance Study Tuesday night at the Wilson Hotel.
“What is the problem we are trying to solve? Most of us feel like we are sending money to the county seat and it’s not coming back, Well as we learned we’re probably still going to have to pay money to the county and then we’re going to have to run our own governance,” Crichton said.
The study group, which kicked off in September, is working to gather facts and feelings from Big Sky residents as they compile a report on possible pathways and costs for changing the governance structure.
The community of Big Sky has been around since the 70s and has grown dramatically over the last decade alongside the ski resort of the same name.
While Big Sky has a variety of local businesses, residential areas and even schools, it’s not an official town. There’s no established local government, and Big Sky’s property taxes run through the two fast growing counties it straddles–Gallatin and Madison.
But Big Sky also brings significant revenue to the table–generated by a 4% resort tax on goods sold within the Big Sky Resort Area District, BSRAD.
BSRAD funds mental health programs, housing trusts, child care and infrastructure projects in the area and put up more than $300,000 to fund the ongoing local governance study.
BSRAD funded the study in an effort to bring facts and the objectivity of a third party to a conversation that has been ongoing for decades.
Some believe that incorporating could provide more efficiency for services provided in the community and a bigger sense of local investment.
However, others believe it would create unnecessary bureaucracy and taxation, for services that are already being covered by the current governance of the resort tax board.
The study encompasses more than incorporation and consultants also outlined potentially difficult pathways to move county lines or form a new county entirely.
A survey running through February hopes to get a better understanding of the community's goals, before working on presenting scenarios this summer.
