Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-05-26 Public Comment - B. Muldowney - Follow up with Mayor Morrison, Deputy Mayor Fischer, Commissioners...From:bobmul9 To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Follow up with Mayor Morrison, Deputy Mayor Fischer, Commissioners Madgic, Bode and Sweeney Date:Friday, June 5, 2026 3:08:08 PM Attachments:Commissioner ThankYou Letter FINAL.pdf Commission_Remarks_June2_FINAL.pdf CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. To whom it may concern; On Tuesday June 2, I made comments at the City Commission Meeting. Given that the presentations areunderstandably limited to 3 minutes and my presentation was dense with City financial information derived from the2025 ACFR, I have attached a copy of my comments as well as a thank you letter, both of which I request to bedistributed to all Commission members. Thank you for your assistanceBob Muldowney2215 Ferguson Avenue CITY OF BOZEMAN — CITY COMMISSION Post-Presentation Correspondence | June 2026 Mayor Morrison, Deputy Mayor Fischer, and Commissioners Madgic, Bode, and Sweeney Thank you for the opportunity to address the Commission on June 2nd regarding the Downtown Urban Renewal District. I recognize that public comment time is limited, and I am grateful for your attention. I am following up with this note — and an attached copy of my remarks with full source citations — so that you and your staff have adequate time to review the underlying financial and legal record at your convenience. My intention was not to present a complete argument in three minutes, but to open a conversation that I believe the community deserves to have. I plan to return at subsequent meetings to address related dimensions of this issue. I hope this letter provides useful context in the meantime. The ask is straightforward: direct the Finance Director to satisfy the Series 2020 Downtown URD bond by depositing approximately $2.1 million from the existing $9.7 million fund balance into an irrevocable escrow account. That single act triggers TIF termination under MCA 7-15-4292 and returns approximately $2.97 million in annual property tax revenue to its rightful distribution across all taxing bodies. This issue, I believe, is also a question of basic fairness to every Bozeman taxpayer who lives outside the Downtown URD boundary. Every property owner in Bozeman pays a city mill levy. For the vast majority of Bozeman residents who live outside the Downtown URD, the City portion of their property tax flows to the General Fund — the fund that pays for police officers, fire response, road maintenance, and every other core municipal service. For property owners and residents within the Downtown URD, the mechanism works differently. Because the district was designated under Tax Increment Financing, the growth in taxable value above the 1995 base — currently $13.4 million of incremental value — is captured by the TIF account rather than the taxing jurisdictions. Downtown property owners pay the same mill rate as everyone else, but a significant portion of what they contribute is diverted before it reaches the services their neighborhood depends on. This is an unfortunate underlying consequence of a financing mechanism that has long outlived its original purpose. The Downtown URD ceased to qualify as a “blighted” district by any reasonable measure years ago. Today, the sole legal instrument sustaining the district is a refunding bond whose lineage traces to parking garage financing from approximately 2008. The annual TIF increment now stands at $2.97 million against annual debt service of just $335,292 — a coverage ratio of nearly 9 to 1. The district is holding nearly $10 million in reserve to service a $2.1 million bond. By any fiduciary standard, that is an indefensible use of community resources. Bozeman today extends far beyond the boundaries that the 1995 Commission could have envisioned. The physical majority of the city now lies west of 7th Avenue, with dense residential development extending well beyond Cottonwood Road. These neighborhoods — my neighborhood among them — represent the largest share of Bozeman’s population, its housing stock, and its daily traffic. West-side residents feel this gap acutely. Road infrastructure beyond 19th Street was not designed for the traffic volumes it now carries. Speeding on collector roads is a documented safety concern. Yet the Police Department, operating with 76 sworn officers against a DOJ- recommended staffing level of 120, cannot dedicate officers to proactive traffic enforcement — they are too busy responding to other calls. Chief Veltkamp has said as much publicly. To put the inequity in concrete terms: the Downtown URD covers just 128 acres — less than one percent of Bozeman's 20.9 square miles — yet captures $2.97 million in annual tax increment. Its estimated 2,000 to 4,000 residents represent roughly 3 to 7 percent of Bozeman's 60,000 people. Meanwhile, the area west of 19th Street spans 7.9 square miles — more than 40 times the Downtown URD's footprint — home to the majority of Bozeman's residents, none of whom benefit from URD designation. I do not believe this is a failure of leadership. I believe it is a structural funding problem with a structural solution. The Downtown URD is diverting $2.97 million per year in property tax receipts. The City’s proportional share of that diversion — approximately $2.1 million annually — restored to the General Fund would represent meaningful, recurring capacity to address the staffing gap that west-side residents experience every day. There is a deeper point worth making. Downtown Bozeman is a cherished and vibrant part of this community — but it alone is not Bozeman. It exists because of the greater community of Bozeman. It is the 60,000 people of Bozeman — the families, the workers, the north and west- side homeowners and the students — who give downtown its identity, its foot traffic, its energy, and ultimately its property value. The $13.4 million in incremental taxable value that the TIF mechanism captures did not materialize because of TIF spending. It materialized because the broader community of Bozeman grew, prospered, and chose to invest here. That appreciation belongs to the whole community. It is time to return it. The broader economic environment makes this conversation more urgent, not less. Inflation has elevated the cost of every municipal labor contract. The federal funding environment is uncertain. And the 2024 public safety levy failed — in part, I would argue, because residents who are already stretched do not feel that existing resources are being deployed equitably across the community. Before asking for more, this Commission should ensure every resident is being served fairly — not just those in the Downtown core. Before this Commission asks residents to approve a new mill levy, I respectfully suggest it first answer a simpler question: why are we asking taxpayers for more money when we have nearly $10 million sitting in a TIF account that the law allows us to return to the community? The Downtown URD served its purpose. Downtown Bozeman is thriving. The bond can be retired with funds already on hand. The mechanism — MCA 7-15-4292 — exists precisely for this moment. The only question is whether this Commission will use it. Thank you again for your time and your service to this community. I look forward to continuing this conversation at future Commission meetings and am available at your convenience to discuss any aspect of this analysis in greater detail. Respectfully, Robert (Bob) Muldowney 2215 Ferguson Avenue, Bozeman June 2026 ENCLOSURE: June 2, 2026 Public Comment Remarks with Source Citations PUBLIC COMMENT — CITY COMMISSION Downtown Urban Renewal District — TIF Reform City Commission Public Comment | June 2, 2026 Mayor Morrison, Commissioners — thank you for your time. Over 30 years ago, this Commission made a reasonable decision; designate Downtown Bozeman a blighted area under Montana law, freeze its tax base at 1995 values of roughly $1.3 million, and direct all new property tax growth into a Tax Increment Financing, or TIF account, used to attract developers. That decision made sense in 1995. It does not make sense in 2026. The Downtown Urban Renewal District, or URD's, incremental taxable value has grown by $13.4 million above that 1995 base. In Fiscal Year 2025, $2.97 million in property taxes that would have otherwise flowed to the General Fund, County, our schools and State, instead went into the TIF account. And the "but-for" incentive test has failed. The most recently approved Downtown project — a $36 million hotel on East Mendenhall — received a TIF incentive of just over $372 thousand. Developers do not need incentives to build in Bozeman. The market has spoken. Meanwhile, our community is paying a real price. Bozeman has only 76 sworn officers — 1.27 per 1,000 residents. The FBI average for a city our size is 1.65. The DOJ standard is 2.0. We are running at least 23 officers short. Over the last 10 years our population has grown approximately 37% to 60,000, whereas the City has added only 7 sworn officers over that same period. Chief Veltkamp has said officers are too busy responding to calls to dedicate time to traffic enforcement. West-side residents have lost neighbors to speeding vehicles on roads with no dedicated traffic patrol. The City’s annual share of that diversion — estimated at $2 million — would flow permanently to the General Fund and could bring policing closer to nationally recognized standards. No new mill levy. No new taxes. I am asking this Commission to instruct the Finance Director to satisfy the Series 2020 Downtown URD bond by depositing $2.1 million from the existing $9.7 million fund balance into an irrevocable escrow account. That single act triggers TIF termination under MCA 7-15-4292. No general fund appropriation is required. The money is already in the account. Upon termination, the remaining $7.6 million distributes proportionally across all taxing bodies; City, County, State and Schools. The City's share, an estimated $2.4 to $4.9 million — immediately available for public safety. Before asking residents to support yet another mill levy, please examine what this Commission has the authority to do today — under existing law, with existing funds. Thank you. SOURCE CITATIONS 1. 1995 blight designation and district creation: City of Bozeman Resolution No. 3046 (March 6, 1995); Ordinance No. 1409 (November 20, 1995). Available: City of Bozeman WebLink document archive. 2. TIF financial data ($13.4M increment, $2.97M annual diversion, $9.7M fund balance, Series 2020 bond $2,112,000 outstanding): City of Bozeman FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), audited by Eide Bailly LLP. Pages 24 (fund balance sheet), 59 (bond schedule), 203 (10-year increment history). Filed February 10, 2026. 3. Police staffing (76 sworn officers, 1.27/1,000 residents): City of Bozeman FY2025 Adopted Budget; Bozeman Police Department authorized staffing records; FY2025 ACFR page 198 (10-year sworn officer history). 4. FBI staffing average (1.65/1,000) and DOJ standard (2.0/1,000): FBI Uniform Crime Report, Law Enforcement Officers Per Capita, cities 50,000–99,999 population; U.S. Department of Justice, COPS Office, Law Enforcement Best Practices. 5. Population growth (~37%, ~60,000 residents): U.S. Census Bureau population estimates; Montana Department of Revenue property assessment records; City of Bozeman growth planning documents. 6. East Mendenhall hotel TIF incentive (1% of $36M construction cost): City of Bozeman Downtown URD Board meeting minutes and approved TIF incentive application ($372,265 approved); City Commission agenda records. 7. Statutory termination mechanism: Montana Code Annotated §7-15-4292 (Tax Increment Financing District termination). Montana Legislature, Title 7, Chapter 15, Part 42. 8. Distributable balance calculation ($7.6M) and City share estimate ($2.4M–$4.9M): Derived from FY2025 ACFR fund balance ($9,694,474) less bond satisfaction ($2,112,000). City share based on proportional mill levy analysis of FY2025 certified levy composition within the Downtown URD boundary. Finance Director should certify exact distribution shares prior to any Commission action.