Last week a meeting of local governmental entities held a joint meet to compare notes and keep everyone informed about what each is doing. The county commissioners, some Billings city council members and some school board members, as well as staff people for each, attended the luncheon meeting at Lincoln Center, School District 2’s administration building.
Non-board members were greeted at the door with the admonition that as a member of the public you are not allowed to speak, you should not ask questions and to “sit in the back”.
Mill levies and when each governmental body might be requesting increased tax revenues from the electorate comprised much of the conversation. City Administrator Chris Kukulski, who chaired the meeting, cautioned that the discussions were just that, discussions. No decisions have been made, and much of what will actually happen depends on future planning and studies. But all – the city, the county and the school district – indicated some plans for future levy requests in the relatively near future.
City Council member, Jennifer Owen commented on the potential levies that as a group, “…we all are going to be out to the voters twice a year for the next three years.”
Kukulski said that the city is planning to go out to the voters to “reconsider” the funding the city gets from the levy for the Park District, which they must do before 2024, which means it will be on the ballot in 2023. The creation of the Park District and its funding was not originally a ballot issue. It was presented to Billings taxpayers as a proposal that could only be defeated if more than 50 percent of the taxpayers submitted written protests against it. The state legislature later acted to make that approach illegal.
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