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Home My WebLink About10-31-20 Public Comment - P & M Routhier - Public Comment on _For the Arts_ initiative to be voted on Nov 10, 2020From:Mary Routhier To:Agenda Cc:Gomez Routhier Subject:Public Comment on "For the Arts" initiative to be voted on Nov 10, 2020 Date:Saturday, October 31, 2020 12:13:00 PM Attachments:Letter to City re For The Arts initiative.pdf We hereby submit the following letter of concern regarding the final vote set for Nov 10, 2020 on the “For the Arts” initiative. Paul & Mary Routhier 2486 Arabian Avenue, Bozeman, MT. 58179 October 31, 2020 From: Paul and Mary Routhier  2486 Arabian Avenue  Bozeman, MT 59718 To: Mayor Jeff Mehelich, Mayor Cindy Andrus, and the   City Commissioners After reading the recent article in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, we were shocked to read about the Commission’s plans to take a final vote on November 10, 2020 to create and fund a new initiative “For the Arts” to beautify city buildings. Some questions certainly should be addressed: 1) How was the arbitrary 1% factor created? 2) Since this “set aside” affects overall construction total estimates and may be construed to be a tax, shouldn’t this initiative be submitted to a vote by the Bozeman residents? 3) How does this initiative fare among all of the existing City of Bozeman initiatives? We find ourselves questioning if the Commission’s decision making protocols are predicated on the actual prioritized needs of the community. Given the many known City priorities - Safety Center, affordable housing, sustainability, and student homelessness - how could the “For the Arts initiative possibly enjoy this high a priority? Given the heavy tax burden that already plagues city homeowners, we strongly encourage the City Commission to delay implementation of this new initiative. Since the first core principle of city management responsibility is the allocation of scarce public funding resources within the City’s budget, wouldn’t informed decision making protocols require the evaluation, if the “For the Arts” initiative actually ranks higher then other pressing priorities - such as the homeless student population within the BSD7? That is not to say that “The Arts” are not important to our community - we ourselves are strong supporters of the arts and privately support them. The issue before you as decision makers and managers is the allocation of October 31, 2020 limited public funded resources across competing establishes priorities. Does “For the Arts” initiative, for example, come before assisting homeless students? We think not. Prior to final approval of this new initiative, we encourage the City Commission and City Manager Jeff Mehelich to re-address the priorities of the city and determine if this new initiative is really the best use of taxpayer dollars, especially when the world is in the middle of a pandemic and there are so many unknowns and uncertainty regarding how this pandemic will affect the projected tax revenue to the city coffers in the coming years. Clearly, this is not a prudent time to create yet another new publicly funded program for the City of Bozeman. Now is the time for the City Commission to pause in the interest of informed decision making and reevaluate its funding priorities. Respectfully submitted, Paul & Mary Routhier