The Bozeman City Commission on October 6 held a work session to evaluate potential ballot measures, signaling strong interest in pursuing a housing levy and seeking public input before proceeding with any asks in 2027.
In consent business, the commission approved items F1, F2 and F4 through F11 unanimously. City Manager Chuck Winn highlighted a state grant to fund a full-time traffic enforcement officer for the Police Department.
Commissioner Alison Sweeney asked staff to add three work sessions to the commission's calendar: one on the neighborhoods program and budget, one on editing the zone map, and one on economic development policy.
Nine residents, mostly from the Flanders Mill neighborhood near Gallatin High School, asked the commission during non-agenda comment to schedule a hearing on a residential parking permit district. The application, originally filed in July 2020, has been in review for nearly three years. Residents cited safety concerns, saying parked vehicles block sight lines to school crosswalks and that children have been nearly struck while crossing marked intersections. The Transportation Advisory Board voted unanimously in July to advance the matter. The parking district hearing is scheduled for December 1. Deputy Mayor Douglas Fischer said he would consider moving it earlier. Sweeney said she was shocked the process has taken this long. Winn said the city made investments to alter traffic in the neighborhood and that more context would be shared.
Ballot measure discussion
The work session focused on what the city might ask voters to fund. Before the meeting, each commissioner had scored six items — a fire station and staffing, a west-side library branch, a pool, behavioral health services, transit expansion, and senior center renovations — on urgency, scale of need, community building and community support.
Public comment highlighted pressing needs. Nathan Stein of Headwaters Community Housing Trust said the 2021 housing levy failed by just under 300 votes and attributed that to voters not knowing how funds would be spent. He noted gaps in deeply affordable rentals and entry-level homeownership. Janee Johnson of the Bozeman Public Library Friends and Foundation said the foundation is purchasing a west-side parcel and will build a new branch entirely with private funds — an estimated $25 to $30 million over three to four years — then gift it to the city. She said the foundation will likely request an operating levy for staffing, most likely in 2029. Sunshine Ross, director of the Gallatin Valley Urban Transportation District, said Streamline is evaluating a funding measure in fall 2027 or spring 2028. Fire Chief Josh Waldo said EMS is not an essential service in Montana and relies on billing to stay afloat.
Fischer identified housing as the top priority and said the city has specific goals: the Fowler housing project and roughly $5 million a year in identified need. Sweeney said she wants a definable plan and opposes using levy funds as gap financing for low-income housing tax credit projects, calling it "double dipping on tax revenue." She said she favors a for-sale product and a revolving, self-sustaining fund. Bode ranked Streamline at the top and said she struggled with scoring items lower because they require partners. She placed housing, behavioral health and transportation as core needs and suggested the aquatics facility might be approached through a private fundraising model similar to the library's.
Morrison said a pool is an investment in public safety, recalling his time as a summer lifeguard. He said he would feel more comfortable polling voters first and emphasized the options are not à la carte. Madgic suggested smaller asks in 2027 — housing and transportation — with the fire station left to a future commission.
Winn provided cost figures: every million dollars in a levy costs the average homeowner about $22 a year; every million in a bond, about $19. A $20 million bond over 20 years would run about $40 a year for the average primary residence.
Next steps
No formal votes were taken. Morrison summarized the emerging direction: housing and Streamline are on the table for 2027, contingent on a statistically valid survey first. Commissioners asked staff to include aquatics, the fire station and a senior center renovation in the polling. Morrison said he and the city manager will return with a plan.
Upcoming work sessions include November 10 on Fowler community housing and December 1 on municipally owned housing and revenue bonding. The Gallatin High parking district hearing is also December 1.