The Gallatin Valley Sentinel

The Gallatin Valley Sentinel Protecting the land, people, and values.

The Study Commission Public Hearing is the single most important opportunity residents have to speak directly into the p...
06/14/2026

The Study Commission Public Hearing is the single most important opportunity residents have to speak directly into the process before recommendations are locked in for the November 2026 ballot.

Progress has been made, but there are still critical flaws in the draft charter that need to be fixed. We've broken down what's working, what's missing, and what you should ask for when you walk into that room. Read the full breakdown at https://www.thegvsentinel.com/the-charter-is-almost-there-heres-whats-still-broken/.

Citizens across this city have been waiting for a government that actually answers to them. That change doesn't happen without people in the room.

When? Thursday, June 18 — City Hall, 121 N. Rouse Ave
5:00 P.M. Public Hearing
Regular meeting of the Study Commission to follow.

Bring a neighbor.

If you cannot attend in person, register to attend online via Zoom at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iWr35aglT7WtyrzQkTttuw #/registration.

You can also email your public comments to [email protected].

The Study Commission needs to hear from everyone, not just the people who always show up or the organized factions who want to protect the status quo. If you've ever felt ignored by your local government, this is your chance to contribute toward changing it.

Please share far and wide.

Stay tuned over the next few days. We will break down what is changing in the proposed charter and what is staying the same.

05/13/2026

Bozeman isn't big enough for wards, but Belgrade is?

Before getting elected, Study Commissioner Carson Taylor supported ward-based representation, but now, according to him, Bozeman, a city of nearly 60,000 residents, isn't big enough for wards.

The Montana math says otherwise:

- Belgrade (Pop. ~14,000): Successfully uses 3 wards with 2 commissioners each.
- Kalispell (Pop. ~34,000): Operates with 4 wards with 2 commissioners each.
- Missoula (Pop. ~75,000): Has 6 wards and 12 commissioners.
- Billings (Pop. ~117,000): Uses 5 wards with 10 commissioners.
- Miles City (Pop. ~8,500): 4 wards with 2 commissioners each.

While these other cities voted against even doing a Local Government Study this year (likely because their representation models are working), Bozeman residents voted FOR a study because they want change.

The Study Commission's own survey data showed that the majority of Bozeman wants ward-based representation, and now they're trying to ignore that data and claim we're too small for a system that towns 1/7th our size use every day. Even Study Commissioner Taylor admits that voting by ward would likely lead to a bigger turnout than what we have now, where less than 30% of Bozeman's registered voters actually vote in municipal elections. So why are they still hesitating?

Our proposed charter language recommends 7 wards with 1 commissioner per ward. This would mean that each commissioner would represent approximately 8,500 residents in their ward. Some people have expressed concerns that there wouldn't be enough people to run in their ward, so we addressed that by starting with one commissioner per ward, instead of 2 as other Montana cities do.

Wards WILL work for Bozeman, and they WILL lead to better representation.

Let the Study Commission know your thoughts before they make their decisions tomorrow!

05/13/2026

Are we trying to buy "better leadership," or just fund and insulate the status quo?

This clip from the most recent Bozeman Study Commission meeting features a Study Commissioner suggesting that if we just paid our elected officials enough to make this a "full-time" career, they might be less influenced by friendly developers.

Wait ... What?

Let's think this through:

The argument is that citizen representatives, people with actual jobs in our community, have "too much sway" from developers because they are busy. So, the solution is to pay them more to make them full-time politicians?

If developers are "very friendly" and having "too much sway" now, why is the answer a pay raise for the City Commission rather than actual, robust ward-based representation that gives neighborhoods a real vote?

While our first responders are under-resourced and taxpayers are being asked for more at every turn, the Study Commission is "leading us to a better place" by discussing salary increases and full-time jobs for current and future City Commissioners.

Our city's development should be determined by the voices of the residents, not by the size of a Commissioner's paycheck.

Wards aren't just an alternative to at-large elections; they are a vital part of neighborhood representation.

Make your voice heard before these "experts" lead us any further!
Public Comment Deadline: Wednesday at NOON
Email: [email protected]

05/12/2026

Because clearly, you just don't know what's good for you.

Don't like apartments in your backyard?
You just need to think it through more.

Don't like your tax dollars spent on a "tenant right to counsel" program?
You just need to think it through more.

Didn't like urban campers outside your door?
You should have just thought it through more.

So now that the majority of Bozeman residents want ward-based representation, is the Study Commission going to "lead us to a better place" by keeping elections at-large and paying the mayor and commissioners more?

The Study Commission's own survey data shows that the people want Wards. We want neighborhood accountability. We want representatives who live where we live. And we want more localized elections that are harder for developers and outside organizations to influence.

But apparently, "leading" means ignoring the data and the voters to protect the status quo.

Let the Study Commission know that you HAVE thought it through, and you want ward-based representation, where candidates must live in the ward, and only the people who live in the ward can elect them!

The deadline for public comment is tomorrow at noon. Email them at [email protected]

05/12/2026

Are White men the problem with Bozeman’s government?
The Bozeman Study Commission seems to think so.

Watch the clip. In their own words, commission members openly dismiss people based on race, age, and identity, not qualifications, ideas, or experience.

Voters asked for better representation, not identity politics. What Bozeman needs is diversity of opinion through wards and neighborhood representation, not taxpayer-funded political careers and arbitrary “lived experience” tests.

A city charter should create equal opportunity for every citizen to serve, not engineer outcomes based on demographics.

While neighborhoods are being overrun by development and police/fire remain underfunded, this is what the commission is focused on. The “public engagement” process was never neutral; it was ideological from the start.

More clips, quotes, and facts are coming.
Send your public comments to [email protected] before noon Wednesday, May 13.

Will Bozeman get much-needed ward-based representation? Or will the Study Commission protect the status quo and pay comm...
05/11/2026

Will Bozeman get much-needed ward-based representation? Or will the Study Commission protect the status quo and pay commissioners more to do it?

These decisions will be made this WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, AT 4 P.M.

The Bozeman Study Commission has managed to stall out these massive decisions until the eleventh hour, but don't let their slow-walking keep you from participating.

They are voting on Commission Pay and the Ward System THIS WEEK. If you are one of the majority Bozeman residents who has not been happy with the City Commission's decisions, this is your opportunity to actually influence change. The window of public comment is narrowing.

Deadline for Written Public Comment: Wednesday @ NOON
Email comments to: [email protected]
When: Wednesday, May 13, 4 p.m.
Where: City Hall or online via Zoom at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iWr35aglT7WtyrzQkTttuw #/registration

05/08/2026

Would you feel more represented by your local government if the City Commissioners got a pay raise?

4 of the 5 Bozeman Study Commissioners think so.

Untethered from public feedback, they are betting that increasing pay, for a body that is already the highest paid in Montana, and making the roles of Commissioner and Mayor full-time will magically fix Bozeman’s representation crisis.

But money does not break up groupthink. Structure does.

The Study Commission is hyper-focusing on wards as just lines on a map. They’re missing the point. Wards are a means to an end. They ensure that neighborhoods actually have a real vote through their Commissioner and that the whole city is considered, not just a narrow ideological base.

Right now, we don’t have city-wide representation. We have ideological representation. Under the current at-large system, Commissioners only have to answer to a small slice of the electorate that already agrees with them. A Ward Commissioner, by contrast, is bound to every resident in their district. Wards don’t shrink a Commissioner’s focus. They expand their accountability to YOU.

THE DEADLINE: This Wednesday, May 13 at 4 p.m., the Study Commission decides if they will support moving to ward-based elections.

SPOILER ALERT: They aren’t planning to move to wards. They are likely to hide behind “increased neighborhood representation” while moving to increase Commission pay instead. We hope we’re wrong, but it’s highly unlikely.

TAKE ACTION: 1. Make it clear that their proposed language for neighborhoods does nothing for REAL representation. Wards are the only real solution. 2. Make it clear that you DO NOT support increased pay for Commissioners or the mayor or making the roles full-time. 3. Make it clear that you want ward-based representation and that only the people who LIVE in the ward can vote for their representative.

Email the Study Commission at [email protected] and show up to City Hall on Wednesday at 4.

05/06/2026

Bozeman's annual budget has topped $230 million. Yet, the City Commission says it can't find the funds to cover the basics.

Right now, 12 of our firefighters are paid for by a temporary federal grant that expires in 2028. The City is already signaling a new levy to save at least 6 of those positions, along with funding for a new fire station, additional police officers, the free Streamline bus service, and an affordable housing fund.

But after voters rejected the public safety levy in 2024, is the problem a lack of money, or a lack of listening? Bozeman residents are fatigued, not just from property taxes, but from a City Commission that prioritizes their own ideology over the essentials.

How do we have money to hire a new Belonging in Bozeman Coordinator, pay for tenant right to counsel, spend $500k every year on "Commission Priorities," sink millions into the failed "urban camping" program, grant nearly $500k to HRDC and Family Promise, and $400k to the Streamline bus service, while simultaneously promoting projects using TIF and LIHTC funds that eliminate property tax revenue from some of the city's biggest developments, and yet not have money for the basics?

Prediction: Bozeman residents will be gaslit into paying higher property taxes.The City of Bozeman has recently made hea...
05/05/2026

Prediction: Bozeman residents will be gaslit into paying higher property taxes.

The City of Bozeman has recently made headlines for its contributions to the Hidden Creek "affordable housing" project. Some have called attention to how taxpayer money subsidizes this and similar projects, but state awards are just one way taxpayers absorb the real costs.

The gaslighting tactic is that the City is counting on residents to focus so much on the labels of "workforce housing" and "affordable units" that they won't examine the local price tag caused by the long-term property tax exemption (or steep reduction) for Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects like Hidden Creek.

The City plans to ask voters again soon to approve an affordable housing tax levy, an effort that failed by only 276 votes in 2021. (https://www.ypradio.org/government-politics/2021-11-05/bozemans-housing-levy-failed-local-leaders-face-challenges-ahead-to-continue-funding-affordable-housing)

This is nothing more than a virtue tax. They cloak these projects in moral language to mask the fiscal reality. They wrap a bad financial deal for the city in a "good cause" so that when you object to the property tax hike, they can claim you're against the workforce.

Using taxpayer money to build "workforce housing" isn't about creating "affordable units." It is a wealth transfer. It's a bill sent to every homeowner in Bozeman to cover the police, fire, and infrastructure costs these subsidized developments leave behind.

The City already lacks sufficient funds to pay for police or fire staffing, the much-needed fire station on the west side of town, or proper EMS services, yet they expect taxpayers to foot the bill for these as well. An affordable housing tax levy won't be the only one Bozeman residents see in the next few years ...

Did you vote for the Bozeman Study Commission to protect the status quo?Because that is exactly what you're getting.The ...
04/30/2026

Did you vote for the Bozeman Study Commission to protect the status quo?

Because that is exactly what you're getting.

The Bozeman Study Commission is nearing the final draft of their proposed Charter language, and the result isn't reform; it's a reinforcement of the current power structure. Instead of fixing the representation crisis, they are moving to set our current issues in stone for the next decade.

They are trying to sell you mandated neighborhoods as a win for representation, but neighborhoods are not a substitute for wards. While they offer you a suggestion box in the form of a neighborhood association, they are quietly preserving the at-large system that keeps power in the hands of a concentrated few. One gives you a "feeling" of a voice; the other gives you the power of a vote.

Don't let them solidify the monopoly into our City Charter. Read our latest deep-dive into the proposed language at https://www.thegvsentinel.com/the-illusion-of-mandated-neighborhood-associations-and-a-look-at-the-proposed-charter-language-so-far/ -content.

Their next meeting is April 30 at 4 p.m. Let them know what you think by submitting public comment to [email protected].

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