HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-04-24 Public Comment - M. Connell - Report from Better Bozeman CoalitionFrom:connell@midco.net
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Report from Better Bozeman Coalition
Date:Tuesday, June 4, 2024 9:17:43 PM
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June 1, 2024
Mr. Larry Johnson, Chairman
Better Bozeman Coalition
517 South 3rd Avenue
Bozeman, Montana 59715
Dear Mr. Johnson,
I recently received a copy of the report authored by Alison
Sweeney and the Better Bozeman Coalition. I wish to
comment on it’s content. Particularly on bullet # 5 under the
Affordable Housing heading on page 46. Your group is
recommending legislative pursuit of a “Luxury Tax” and/or a
“Vacancy Tax”. I am familiar with and vehemently opposed to
both because they are inherently unfair, unjust and of
questionable legality. My wife and I are Fargo residents who
have owned a second home in Bozeman since 2017. We
typically spend about 5 (sometimes six) months each year
there and I have followed closely the local discussions
regarding Bozeman’s growth. Fargo, our permanent residence,
is growing as much if not more than Bozeman and has
experienced similar challenges. But the strategies there for
addressing those issues are markedly different.
We have learned something since living in Bozeman that we
didn’t know before. Actually had no idea. We have learned
that we are “rich”. That realization came to us by listening to
the ongoing rhetoric at city council meetings and reading
Letters To The Editor referring to the “rich out of staters who
buy second homes” that are the root cause of the “housing
crisis” and the “homeless crisis” in Bozeman. We just thought
we were two people who have worked hard during our
lifetimes, in my case 60 - 70 hours per week for 30 years,
then, “only” 40 hours per week for another seven years. In my
wife’s case, 50 hours per week for 40 years. To attend
graduate school to attain my job, my family and I lived in a 19’
travel trailer with no air conditioning near NDSU for 3 1/2
summers. My wife lived in a hotel in Grand Forks for a year
while earning her advanced degree. After working all those
years, we had saved enough money to pay cash for a second
home in a place we had often vacationed in the summer,
Bozeman. We failed to see anything wrong with that. Even
convinced ourselves we had “earned” it. While we don’t use
many services in Bozeman (schools, etc.) we have not minded
paying our full share of property taxes. We understood that
before buying. At the present time we actually pay a higher
rate of property taxes than those who live in Bozeman and use
all of the services because we are denied eligibility for the
property tax rebate that residents enjoy.
But there we draw the line. Expecting us to pay an additional,
“vacancy tax” because we chose to own a second home here
which we purchased with our hard earned money, is unfair,
disingenuous and frankly, I don’t understand why it should be
legal, even though I know some (much larger) cities have
implemented it. I heard a young woman wearing a yellow t-
shirt say at a Bozeman City Council meeting that out of state
second home owners should be made to, “pay for the privilege
of getting to spend time in Bozeman “. Privilege? That young
woman has never paid a dollar of property taxes in her life.
Yet elected officials and many others, seemed to take her and
others like her seriously. I find it so appalling that officials in
Bozeman seem to swallow the , “rich out of stater” rhetoric
hook, line and sinker without ever asking who they (out of
staters) are or how they were able to buy second homes. My
wife and I inherited nothing. In fact, we helped pay for our
parents funerals. So forgive me for pushing back when being
maligned for doing what at one time was considered normal in
this country, work hard, save and enjoy retirement!
Please drop your recommendation for pursuit of luxury and/or
vacancy taxes! And as far as trying to rid Bozeman of the
dreaded, “rich out of staters”, be careful what you ask for.
Sincerely,
Mike Connell
Fargo, ND/Bozeman, MT
connell@midco.net
CC Bozeman City Council